The role of socioeconomic factors in the survival of patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

The relations between type of occupation, marital status and residential area and survival from gastrointestinal cancers were examined among 4485 cases of stomach cancer and 2618 cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed between 1983 and 1988 and recorded in the Aichi Cancer Registry. In univariate analyses, the cumulative five-year survival rates of both cancers were highest among professionals and managers and lowest among service workers, in males. They were highest among professionals, managers and clerical workers and lowest among housewives, in females. For both men and women, single people had a lower survival rate than married, and patients living in a metropolis had a higher survival rate than those living in other areas. Multivariate analyses, based on Cox's proportional hazards model, revealed occupation to have a statistically significant effect on prognosis for both sexes, although the effect of extent of disease was definitive. The analyses also confirmed the unfavorable effect of a single marital status and the favorable effect of residing in a metropolis, in women. The results suggest that socioeconomic factors may have a role to play in the survival of patients with gastrointestinal cancers.