Achi news desk-
The fact that the future Queen and current King were diagnosed with a condition within a few months certainly proves that royalty is not immune.
Since her death in 2022, it has also emerged that the late Queen Elizabeth had been suffering from a type of bone cancer towards the end of her life rather than the vague “mobility issues” created by Palace spokespeople.
So, yes, cancer can strike anyone from any background and any bereavement from cancer would be just as devastating to loved ones, whatever their background.
However, it is also true that your chances of getting cancer – or dying from it – are significantly higher the further down the rich-poor spectrum you are.
In Scotland, the latest statistics show that the incidence of cancer is 32% higher for people living in the fifth most deprived postcode areas, compared to the most affluent 20% of neighbourhoods.
In 2021, there were 754 diagnoses per 100,000 people living in the most deprived areas compared to 571 per 100,000 in the least deprived areas.
This is after adjusting for the different age profiles of these populations, so the gap persists even after accounting for the fact that people in wealthier areas live longer and therefore increase their likelihood of developing cancer only through old age.
The mortality gap is even more pronounced. In 2021, the death rate from cancer was 67% higher in the most deprived communities compared to the least.
For incidence and mortality, the gradient forms a steady upward trend in line with increasing deprivation.
And this is only based on dividing the population into fifths – or “quintiles”.
If you were to repeat the analysis by dividing the population into tenths, or hundredths, the curve would become even steeper.
Wealth is, for all intents and purposes, health.
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Some of this can be explained by different lifestyle risks.
Cigarette smoking rates are more than three times higher among the most compared to the least deprived Scots (25% versus 7%) and the proportion of adults considered obese is almost twice as high (36% versus 19% ).
Alcohol-related hospital admissions – a proxy for harmful drinking – are also seven times higher among people living in the poorest areas.
You could argue that people can choose not to smoke, lose weight, and not drink too much.
But the odds are stacked unfairly.
Licensed shops and fast food outlets cluster disproportionately in poorer areas; fresh fruit and vegetables are rarer and relatively more expensive; and negative life experiences – from poverty-related stress to trauma – are more common, pushing people towards cigarettes, alcohol, and junk food as coping mechanisms.
After developing cancer, people in poorer areas are also less likely to receive an early diagnosis.
The number receiving breast, bowel and cervical screening is lower, and there are fewer GPs per capita.
As a result, someone worried about possible cancer symptoms is likely to wait longer to see their GP, and therefore longer for a subsequent referral to a consultant for hospital tests.
Statistics published on Tuesday revealed that 2023 was the worst year ever for cancer waiting times on NHS Scotland.
By the end of last year, almost 29% of cancer patients were waiting more than 62 days between being sent for tests and starting treatment. The figure is not supposed to be more than 5%.
For those who can afford private healthcare, the path to diagnosis – and even treatment – can be quicker.
In 2022/23, 1,745 self-funded chemotherapy treatments were carried out in private hospitals in Scotland, and demand for scans and scopes is also increasing.
It is also worth noting that the diagnosis of the King and Princess of Wales was “occasional” following procedures designed at The London Clinic. Cancer was not suspected.
If they had been ordinary NHS patients, therefore, there would be no reason to fast-track their treatment for extended prostate and abdominal surgery, respectively.
Currently, the median waiting times on the Scottish NHS for a planned urological procedure is 209 days, while for a general or gynecological operation (it is not clear which category the Princess’ operation falls under) it is 170 and 223 days.
We can reasonably assume that neither Charles nor Catherine stayed close that long.
In this sense, then, patients who are wealthy enough to skip the NHS queue for top-tier private medicine are going to be in a better position to find cancer unexpectedly, as a result of routine treatment, and before the disease has opportunity to do so. spreading.
This greatly improves the chances of survival.
Although details about the types and stages of the royal family’s cancers have not been disclosed by the Palace, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC that the King’s disease had been “caught early”.
In her own statement last Friday, the Princess said she was undergoing “preventive chemotherapy” – a precautionary course of treatment which aims to mop up any cancer cells that may have escaped from the source tissue removed during surgery, and he subsequently tested positive for cancer. .
The practical and financial experiences of cancer can also vary greatly depending on people’s personal circumstances.
Research by Macmillan Cancer Support previously found that 80% of cancer patients lose an average of £570 a month following diagnosis due to loss of income and increased expenditure, including heating and traveling to hospital appointments.
While the King has been flown in a private helicopter or chauffeured in a State Bentley to his cancer treatment sessions in London, NHS cancer patients in Scotland who regularly travel 200 miles on buses or trains from the Highlands to Glasgow because they can’t do that. see a specialist locally.
So, yes, cancer can affect us all; but, no, the experience does not fall on all of us equally.
