calliandra722

The Guardian newspaper reports today that breast cancer is "becoming a
disease of the middle classes".


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/st...079537,00.html

It starts:
Professional women in England and Wales are at least 50% more likely
to die from breast cancer than their working-class contemporaries, the
Office for National Statistics reported yesterday.
Officials said it was the first example of a disease defying the
pattern of higher mortality in the poor and disadvantaged.

In 1986-92, in the professional and managerial classes, breast cancer
caused 52 deaths in every 100,000 women aged 35 to 64. This rose to 57
in 1997-99.

But in women in the semi-skilled and unskilled group the rate dropped
from 59 in 1986-92 to 37 in 199-99, leaving professional and
managerial women 54% more likely to die from the condition

--

The study is of the disease pattern rather than an attempt to identify
causes. Might pne factor be the increased use of HRT over ths period?

As a "professional" (?) working woman who has never has had kids this
is cheeering end-of-week reading for me!

Susie

ajiko

HRT could be one factor. Marin County in California has been called a
breast cancer cluster - having one of the highest rates in the country. It
is also one of the highest income centers. I would venture to say that rich
diets are another and bigger factor. And when you're not eating rich foods,
you may be dieting with drugs/supplements to help you lose weight. If you
have enough money, you eat more and typically more fatty foods, you can also
afford the cost of diet drugs.

Joanne

chakolate

And might it not be because professional women have fewer children?
Definitely indicates a need for further study.

Chakolate

--

On sadness:
The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or to frowst with a book by the fire,
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And to dig till you gently perspire.
--Rudyard Kipling