[Education level and participation in early cancer diagnostic studies in the Federal Republic of Germany].

In Germany only a few persons take part in cancer screening programs. In order to raise participation rates one needs to ask which subgroups of the population these efforts should focus on. Studies from other countries unanimously show that participation rates decrease with decreasing education and income. Based on this results it was hypothesized that in Germany participation rates also decrease with decreasing education. In a secondary analysis of data from a population survey conducted in Germany in 1987, the hypothesis could be supported only for employed women, whereas for men a non-significant and for not employed women a significant, association was found in the opposite direction.