PFor the first time, a study shows that, in medical deserts, people suffering from certain cancers have a much greater risk of death than elsewhere.
If the reports denounce the extension of consultation deadlines or the difficulties in finding a treating doctor in these under-to-do areas are legion, the direct consequences for the health of patients are rarely measured. This is all the interest of the work coordinated by Joséphine Gardy and Olivier Dejardin (Inserm, CHU Caen), based on profile analysis of more than 150,000 patients from all national cancer registers between 2013 and 2015.
Read too From 88,000 to 417,000 euros annually, the major income difference among doctors
Risks multiplied by 2
For breast cancer, for example, a year after the diagnosis, the increase is 69 % for the inhabitants of the under-to-do areas in generalists. Five years after their diagnosis, the risk is even multiplied by 2 for these patients. For liver cancer, the increase reaches 50 % for women and 20 % for men in medical deserts. For lung tumors, the increase is 8 % for both sexes. Among the explanations, lack of screening, delayed diagnosis …
-“Our data to be published on hematological cancers do not show such increases in deaths. It may be because the treatment of these cancers is very centralized in reference services, even when […] Read more
Health
