Associations of demographic, socioeconomic, self-rated health, and metastasis in colorectal cancer in Iran

Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is important because of the costs imposed on the individual. Self-Rated Health (SRH) can be useful for preventing cancer. Considering the role of Socio-Economic Status (SES) in CRC, our study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between demographic, SES, SRH, and metastasis of this type of cancer in Markazi province, Iran.

This cross-sectional, descriptive study (April to July 2018) was conducted on 411 patients suffering from CRC. These patients were hospitalized in one of the medical centers affiliated to Arak University of Medical Sciences (Arak, Iran), and with non-random sampling (available sampling) they were imported to the study. A reliable and valid questionnaire about levels of SES and SRH was filled by patients. For analyzing the data, Binomial logistic regression and chi-square tests were executed using Stata 11 software.

The mean age was 60.01 years. According to the results of this study, as compared with poorest SES patients, the OR estimate of metastasis was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.36, 1.78) among the richest SES patients, in patients with age of >60 years was 9.92 (95% CI: 1.53, 64.39) in comparison with patients with age of <40 years, in male patients was 3.26 (95% CI: 1.76, 6.04) compared with female ones; in divorced/widowed patients was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.11, 2.51) in comparison with single ones; among those with academic level of education was 4.28 (95% CI: 1.49, 12.26) compared with illiterate patients; and compared with poor SRH-age of patients, was 3.78 (95% CI: 2.09, 6.85) among those with good SRH-age.

Patient's education and SES are important variables in metastasis and SRH of CRC in Iranian patients. All diagnostic tests and medical possibilities should be available for all individuals with adequate interventions. Patient’s education and awareness should also be increased.