Poor 'lacking lung cancer help'

Nine out of ten lung cancers are caused by smoking

The poorest people in the UK are least likely to receive treatment when they get lung cancer, a study suggests.

Analysis of data from 35,000 lung cancer patients in northern England found living in a deprived area cut the chance of treatment such as surgery.

The problem was exacerbated further if patients lived a long distance from a specialist hospital, the British Journal of Cancer reported.

Cancer Research UK said there were "unacceptable variations" in care.

Researchers looked at treatment of patients between 1994 and 2002.

This study adds to the evidence that despite lung cancer being the UK's biggest cancer killer, there are still unacceptable variations in diagnosis and treatment across the UK Hilary Tovey, Cancer Research UK

Overall 17% had chemotherapy, 40% had radiotherapy and 10% had surgery.

Looking in more detail, they found that those living in deprived areas were less likely to have their disease confirmed with a biopsy.

And the most deprived were overall 21% less likely to have received chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery than the most affluent group.

This became more apparent the further the patient lived from the hospital offering the treatment - so the worst cared for group seemed to be the poorest people living in rural areas with a 45% lower chance of treatment.

Diagnosis

Study leader Dr Michael Crawford, a medical oncologist at Airedale Hospital in West Yorkshire, said to have a chance at beating lung cancer, patients really needed to undergo surgery.

Early diagnosis is key, he added, because if the disease was picked up too late, patients would be too sick to undergo treatment to try and beat the disease.

"The question is how patients get into the system.

"So do patients feel they can go to the GP and do they manage to convince the GP that they should be tested for lung cancer."

He said GPs in deprived practices would see a lot of smokers with coughs and they have to decide who warrants an X-ray.

"GPs are gatekeepers of the health service and the message has been 'don't do too many X-rays'.

"We need to make it easier for GPs to say 'you need to have an X-ray'."

Hilary Tovey, Cancer Research UK's policy manager, said: "This study adds to the evidence that despite lung cancer being the UK's biggest cancer killer, there are still unacceptable variations in diagnosis and treatment across the UK.

"It's particularly worrying that people living in the poorest areas are less likely to receive treatment for lung cancer.

"More work needs to be done to understand why this is happening and where improvements should be made."