Lung Cancer Inequality Essay

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How the distribution of health can be linked to inequality; Lung Cancer within Social Class

Introduction
The distribution of health is determined by a wide variety of individual, community, and national factors. There is a growing body of evidence documenting inequalities in both the distribution of health and access to health care in the United Kingdom. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer for both men and women in England (Office for National Statistics, 2013). The majority of lung cancer cases in the United Kingdom occur as a result of tobacco smoking, 80-90% of lung cancer cases can be attributed to this with only 10-20% of cases being attributed to diet and occupational exposures to carcinogens, such as radiation (Parkin, Boyd and Walker, 2011). Research also suggests that socio-economic deprivation is associated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Analysis
Lung cancer incidence is strongly related to deprivation and there is a clear trend of increasing rates with increasing levels of deprivation in the United Kingdom. In 2008, 14.3% of males and 13.2% of females in affluent areas developed lung cancer compared to 25.2% of males and 26.3% of females in the most deprived areas (National Cancer Intelligence Centre, 2013). The link between socio-economic deprivation and lung cancer may be due to the higher prevalence of smoking and heavier smoking in lower socio-economic groups. Graph 1 below shows the difference in tobacco smoking in both men and women in social class, 1 being the least deprived and 6 being the most deprived.

Graph 1 http://www.sochealth.co.uk The socio-economic status of the household reference person is also a factor by which cigarette smoking varies. In 2011, smoking prevalence betw...

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...es surrounding the lungs, which reflect past exposure to asbestos, is more common in manual workers in the building and naval industries resulting in a higher incidence of lung cancer with in a lower socio-economic status.

Conclusion
It is clear from findings that people in a lower social class have a higher incidence of lung cancer. Tobacco smoking is the most prevalent cause of lung cancer in the United Kingdom and smoking is the main cause of differences in illness and death between the poor and wealthy (Gruer et al. 2007). While the desire and motivation to give up smoking appears to have no difference depending on socio-economic status, people from the most deprived areas have lower smoking cessation rates (Bauld, L, 2006). People from more deprived areas also have a poorer education and have less motivation to change there lifestyle to improve their health.

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