Source: www.hemonctoday.com
Author: Camille Ragin, PhD, MPH

Overall mortality rates for oral cavity and pharynx cancer declined for all patient groups from 1993 to 2007, but high school graduates experienced the largest reductions in mortality compared with those who attained less than 12 years of education.

Black men (–4.95%) and women with 12 years of education (–3.72%) experienced the largest decline in mortality. Black women with more than 12 years of education were the only group that did not experience significant decreases in mortality. Mortality rates increased significantly among all white men, except for those with more than 12 years of education.

“Mortality rates for patients with oral cavity and pharynx cancers decreased significantly among men and women with more than 12 years of education, regardless of race/ethnicity (except for black women), whereas rates increased among white men with less than 12 years of education,” the researchers wrote. “Throughout the entire study period, mortality rates have remained highest among the least educated and lowest among those with some college education, regardless of sex or race/ethnicity.”

Only patients with at least 12 years of education experienced decreases in mortality for HPV-unrelated cancer sites. Mortality rates increased 2.72% per year for white men with less than 12 years of education (P,.01).

Conversely, mortality rates for HPV-related cancers decreased among black men. Among white men, mortality rates increased 1.58% per year for HPV-related cancers during the study period.

People with more education typically have higher income, more resources and they’re more likely to have a job with health insurance and thus, greater access to care. However, when we use educational attainment as a surrogate for socioeconomic status, things can get tricky. While educational attainment is a fairly good measure of socioeconomic status, we need to keep that in context and consider other factors that might be related to mortality. Social and psychological factors, social standing and social support must also be considered. These other factors may vary between males and females. This is pure speculation, but that could explain why we don’t see a statistically significant decrease in mortality for women with the highest educational attainment.

Source: Chen AY. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2011;137:1094-1099