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Thursday, June 8, 2006

Study: Socio-economic status and childhood cancers other than leukemia

1985 to 2001

Children in Canada's poorest neighbourhoods are neither more nor less likely to get cancer than those in the richest neighbourhoods, except for leukemia, according to a new study of childhood cancer patterns on the basis of neighbourhood income.

This study, published recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology, was based on data from Canada's 10 provincial cancer registries. The data were analysed by researchers from the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Statistics Canada and the Electric Power Research Institute.

This report follows a similar study, released in The Daily on July 5, 2005, that found that children in Canada's poorest neighbourhoods were less likely to get leukemia than those in the richest neighbourhoods.

For most types of cancer, it found no statistically significant differences in relative risk in the poorest one-fifth of neighbourhoods, compared to the richest one-fifth. A somewhat lower risk in the lowest income neighbourhoods was found for carcinomas and renal tumours. However, no association was found for other types of cancer, and the overall pattern seems compatible with random variation.

This study was undertaken to determine whether there is a difference in incidence of childhood cancers other than leukemia for different levels of socio-economic status, measured by neighbourhood income.

All cases of childhood cancers other than leukemia, that is, in children up to the age of 19, diagnosed between 1985 and 2001, were identified from the 10 provincial cancer registries in Canada. Postal codes for the place of residence at the time of diagnosis were used to assign cases to census neighbourhoods.

Census data closest to the year of diagnosis were used to divide the population into five equal parts by neighborhood income.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3207.

The study "Socioeconomic status and childhood solid tumor and lymphoma incidence in Canada," was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 (Advanced Access). An abstract of the article is available free online (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez) in English only. The full text of the article is also available online in English only (http://aje.oxfordjournals.org).

For more information about the concepts, methods or data quality of the study, or to obtain a free copy, contact Russell Wilkins (1-613-951-5305; russell.wilkins@statcan.gc.ca), Health Analysis and Measurement Group, or Marilyn Borugian (1-604-675-8058; mborugian@bccrc.ca), Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Agency.



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Date Modified: 2006-06-08 Important Notices