42^nd World Cancer Conference

Social Economic Impact

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Distribution in economics refers to the way total output, income, or wealth is distributed among individuals or among the factors of production (such as labour, land, and capital). In general theory and the national income and product accounts, each unit of output corresponds to a unit of income. Cancer can be a major cause of lack of money. This may be due either to the costs of treating and managing the illness as well as its impact upon people's ability to work. This particularly affects countries that lack comprehensive social health insurance systems and other types of social safety nets. The study is a longitudinal short study of 10,000 hospital patients with a first time diagnosis of cancer. Patients were assigned a socioeconomic status according to the district of residence at diagnosis. Continuity of patients due to cancer living in the most deprived district was compared to survival of patients living in all other districts by model-based period analysis. These major regional socioeconomic inequalities indicate a potential for improving cancer care and survival in Germany. Studies on individual patient data with access to treatment information should be conducted to examine the reasons for these socioeconomic inequalities in cancer survival in more detail.