Socioeconomic position, treatment, and survival of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Denmark – a nationwide study

BACKGROUND: Not all patients have benefited equally from the advances in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) survival. This study investigates several individual-level markers of socioeconomic position (SEP) in relation to NHL survival, and explores whether any social differences could be attributed to comorbidity, disease and prognostic factors, or the treatment given. METHODS: This registry-based cohort study links clinical data on prognostic factors and treatment from the national Danish lymphoma database to individual socioeconomic information in Statistics Denmark including 6234 patients diagnosed with NHL in 2000–2008. RESULTS: All-cause mortality was 40% higher in NHL patients with short vs higher education diagnosed in the period 2000–2004 (hazard ratio (HR)=1.40 (1.27–1.54)), and 63% higher in the period 2005–2008 (HR=1.63 (1.40–1.90)). Further, mortality was increased in unemployed and disability pensioners, those with low income, and singles. Clinical prognostic factors attenuated, but did not eliminate the association between education and mortality. Radiotherapy was less frequently given to those with a short education (odds ratio (OR)= 0.84 (0.77–0.92)), low income (OR=0.80 (0.70–0.91)), and less frequent to singles (OR=0.79 (0.64–0.96)). Patients living alone were less likely to receive all treatment modalities. CONCLUSION: Patients with low SEP have an elevated mortality rate after a NHL diagnosis, and more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis explained a part of this disparity. Thus, socioeconomic disparities in NHL survival might be reduced by improving early detection among patients of low SEP.