Social inequality and incidence of and survival from cancers of the kidney and urinary bladder in a population-based study in Denmark, 1994–2003

We investigated the effects of socioeconomic, demographic and health-related indicators on the incidence of and survival from cancers of the kidney and urinary bladder diagnosed in Denmark during 1994–2003 with follow-up through 2006 using information from nationwide registers. The analyses were based on data on 2941 patients with kidney cancer and 9471 patients with urinary bladder cancer in a cohort of 3.22 million people born between 1925 and 1973 and aged ⩾30 years. Our results indicate that lower socioeconomic position is associated with higher incidences of cancers at both sites in both sexes, whether socioeconomic position is measured as educational level, disposable income, affiliation to the work market, housing tenure or size of dwelling. We also found a moderate pattern of better survival from cancers at both sites in the most advantaged groups, most clearly reflected by the level of education, disposable income and affiliation to the work market.