Impact of socio-economic factors in delayed reporting and late-stage presentation among patients with cervix cancer in a major cancer hospital in South India

The impact of socio-economic and demographic status (SEDS) factors on the stage of cervical cance rat diagnosis, symptom duration and delay-time from diagnosis to registration was determined by analysing data for the year 2006 from the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Patients (n=349) were included if they were from the states of Kerala or Tamil Nadu. SEDS factors included age, residing district, religion, marital status, income, education and occupation. Associations between SEDS factors by stage at diagnosis and symptom duration were tested using chi-square statistics with odds ratios (OR) estimated through logistic regression modeling. Elevated risks for late stage reporting among cervical cancer patients were observed for women who were widowed/divorced (OR=2.08; 95%CI: 1.24-3.50) and had a lower education (OR=2.62; 95%CI:1.29-5.31 for women with primary school education only). Patients who had symptoms of bleeding/bleeding with other symptoms (77%) were more likely to seek treatment within one month, compared to patients with other symptoms only (23%) (p=0.016). This analysis helped to identify populations at increased risk of diagnosis at later stages of cancer with the ultimate intent of providing health education and detecting cancer at earlier stages.