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Association between maternal education and survival after childhood cancer
Author(s) -
Isaevska Elena,
Popovic Maja,
Alessi Daniela,
Mosso Maria Luisa,
Sacerdote Carlotta,
Magnani Corrado,
Pastore Guido,
Rosso Tiziana,
Zengarini Nicolás,
Dockerty John,
Merletti Franco,
Maule Milena
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.27616
Subject(s) - medicine , socioeconomic status , hazard ratio , cancer registry , record linkage , demography , proportional hazards model , cancer , confidence interval , childhood cancer , association (psychology) , pediatrics , environmental health , population , philosophy , epistemology , sociology
Background Several nonbiological factors, including socioeconomic status indicators and other family characteristics, influence survival from childhood cancers. Our study explores the association between parental education and childhood cancer survival. Methods The specialized Childhood Cancer Registry of the Piedmont region in Italy provided data on all the cases (aged 0–14) diagnosed with cancer in the period 1976–2011 who resided in the city of Turin (capital of the Piedmont region) at least once since 1971. Information on parental education was extracted from the Turin Longitudinal Study by record linkage. The association between parental educational level and survival was estimated using Cox regression. Results The study included 949 children. We observed a disadvantage in the overall survival for children of less educated mothers. No such effect was observed for paternal education. The effect of maternal education was particularly strong for central nervous system tumors (hazard ratios, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–8.0). A similar effect, though smaller in magnitude, was observed for leukemia and embryonal tumors, whereas the estimates for lymphoma were imprecise. Conclusions Our study shows an association between maternal educational level and survival in children with central nervous system tumors, a diagnosis that often requires long‐lasting treatment and special care. Giving support to the families of affected children to provide them the optimal care has the potential to improve children's cancer treatment outcomes.