The Correlation between the Family Levels of Socioeconomic Status and Stage at Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND: Stage is one of the most important prognostic factors for the cancer diagnosis, including the breast cancer. Studies have found that the rate of breast cancer late-stage diagnosis, among the women with lower socioeconomic status, is more than the others. The aim of this study was investigation the relationship between family levels of socioeconomic status and stage at diagnosis of breast cancer. METHODS: This cross-sectional, descriptive study has conducted on 526 patients who have suffered from breast cancer, and have registered in Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti university of Medical science, from March 2008 till December 2013. A reliable and valid questionnaire about family status of socioeconomic status, have filled by interviewing the patients via phone. For analyzing the data, Multinomial logistic regression, Kendal tau-b correlation coefficient and Contingency Coefficient tests have executed by SPSS 19. RESULTS: The results have indicated that the mean age of the patients was 48.30 (SD=11.41). There was a significant relationship between stage at diagnosis of breast cancer and family levels of socioeconomic status at the time of diagnosis (p=0.024). Also, the relationship between stage at diagnosis and living place (in or out of Tehran) was significant (p=0.044). In the Multiple logistic regressions, these associations were significant. There wasn’t any significant relationship between stage of diagnosis of breast cancer and age, marital status and family history. CONCLUSION: Regarding the results of this study, deep paying attention to the family socioeconomic status as an important variable in stage at diagnosis of breast cancer, among Iranian women, was too important, and then providing the prevention plans related to this topic has seemed necessary.