Background: Chronic disease (CD) may be more prevalent after cancer. Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher incidence of some cancers, worse cancer outcomes and higher prevalence of CD. Little is known whether the association between cancer and CD differs according to sex, and whether it is further influenced by differences in SES.
Aim: to examine prevalence of self-reported CD in those with cancer according to sex and SES.
Methods:We reviewed CD and lifestyle behaviours from a state-wide telephone survey conducted between January 2010 and March 2012 comparing adults who self-reported previous cancer diagnosis and randomly selected age and sex matched controlswho did not. Analysis was stratified by sex and adjusted for socioeconomic status (SES).
Results: 2,103 cases and 4,185 controls were included. In men, cancer cases had an increased odds of reporting a previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (OR1.39, 95%CI1.16, 1.67), high blood pressure (OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.11, 1.53), high cholesterol (OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.15, 1.59) and diabetes (OR1.24, 95%CI1.01, 1.52) which remained significant, after controlling for SES with the exception of high blood pressure. In women, cancer cases had increased odds of having reported high cholesterol (OR1.23, 95%CI 1.07, 1.43), diabetes (OR 1.28, 95%CI 1.04, 1.58) and osteoporosis (OR 1.31, 95%CI1.08, 1.58) which was no longer significant after adjusting for SES.
Conclusions: The prevalence of self-reported CD’s was significantly higher amongst those with history of cancer compared to controls but in women this was largely a result of differences in SES.