Poor women in the United Kingdom are less likely to be screened for breast cancer than more affluent women, so you'd expect that poor women would have more advanced breast cancer when they're diagnosed. Epidemiologists at the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds looked at breast cancer data to see if that was true.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does socioeconomic status affect when breast cancer is diagnosed?

What they did: The researchers used the Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry and Information Service, which includes almost all women in the region with breast cancer. They were looking at the stage the cancer had gotten to—whether it had spread—and the grade, or how fast it was growing. The researchers estimated women's socioeconomic status using census data from the neighborhood where they lived.

What they found: Women from poorer neighborhoods had a more advanced disease when diagnosed. Ten percent of more affluent women's cancer had already spread when they were diagnosed, compared with 16 percent of women in the poorest neighborhoods.

What it means to you: Women in poorer neighborhoods aren't getting diagnosed until later in their disease, which makes treatment tougher.

Caveats: There could be some other pattern going on here—wealthier women might be more likely to take hormones, or there could be some environmental factor that speeds cancer progress in poorer neighborhoods.

Find out more: About breast cancer diagnosis: http://imaginis.com

About breast cancer grades: http://www.breastcancer.org

Read the article: Adams, J., White, M. and D. Forman. "Are There Socioeconomic Gradients in Stage and Grade of Breast Cancer at Diagnosis? Cross Sectional Analysis of UK Cancer Registry Data." British Medical Journal. Published online (ahead of print) June 2, 2004.

Article online: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com