Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov;32(11):1193-1196.
doi: 10.1007/s10552-021-01471-9. Epub 2021 Jul 9.

Leading cancers contributing to educational disparities in cancer mortality in the US, 2017

Diana R Withrow  1 , Neal D Freedman  2 , James T Gibson  3 , Mandi Yu  4 , Anna M Nápoles  5 , Amy Berrington de González  2 , Meredith S Shiels  2
Affiliations

Leading cancers contributing to educational disparities in cancer mortality in the US, 2017

Diana R Withrow et al. Cancer Causes Control. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: To inform prevention efforts, we sought to determine which cancer types contribute the most to cancer mortality disparities by individual-level education using national death certificate data for 2017.

Methods: Information on all US deaths occurring in 2017 among 25-84-year-olds was ascertained from national death certificate data, which include cause of death and educational attainment. Education was classified as high school or less (≤ 12 years), some college or diploma (13-15 years), and Bachelor's degree or higher (≥ 16 years). Cancer mortality rate differences (RD) were calculated by subtracting age-adjusted mortality rates (AMR) among those with ≥ 16 years of education from AMR among those with ≤ 12 years.

Results: The cancer mortality rate difference between those with a Bachelor's degree or more vs. high school or less education was 72 deaths per 100,000 person-years. Lung cancer deaths account for over half (53%) of the RD for cancer mortality by education in the US.

Conclusion: Efforts to reduce smoking, particularly among persons with less education, would contribute substantially to reducing educational disparities in lung cancer and overall cancer mortality.

Keywords: Cancer mortality; Disparities; Education; Lung cancer; Risk difference.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cancer mortality rate differences, ≥ 16 years vs. ≤ 12 years of education, stratified by sex and race/ethnicity; all 2017 deaths among persons aged 25–84 in the US; rate differences are age-standardized to the 2000 US standard population and are expressed per 100,000 person-years and 95% confidence intervals are displayed; API: Asian and Pacific Islander
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ma J, Jemal A. Temporal trends in mortality from major cancers by education in the United States, 2001–2016. JNCI Cancer Spectrum. 2019 doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkz087. - DOI - PubMed
    1. National Center for Health Statistics: Datasets and Related Documentation for Mortality Data (2016) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_methods.htm. Accessed 29 Apr 2021
    1. Pampel F, Legleye S, Goffette C, Piontek D, Kraus L, Khlat M. Cohort changes in educational disparities in smoking: France, Germany and the United States. Soc Sci Med. 2015;127:41–50. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.06.033. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goding Sauer A, Siegel RL, Jemal A, Fedewa SA. Current prevalence of major cancer risk factors and screening test use in the United States: disparities by education and race/ethnicity. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev. 2019;28(4):629–642. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.Epi-18-1169. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Winkleby MA, Schooler C, Kraemer HC, Lin J, Fortmann SP. Hispanic versus white smoking patterns by sex and level of education. Am J Epidemiol. 1995;142(4):410–418. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117649. - DOI - PubMed