Educational inequalities in cancer incidence in Turin, Italy.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between cancer incidence and socioeconomic status, and to examine the temporal trends in social inequalities in cancer risk. Educational differentials in the incidence of cancer (25 sites) among adult residents of Turin (Italy) were examined using data from the Turin Longitudinal Study and the Piedmont Cancer Registry. The relationship between cancer incidence and educational level was evaluated over three 5-year periods between 1985 and 1999 using Poisson models.

A high positive predictive value algorithm using hospital administrative data identified incident cancer cases.

Objective: We have developed and validated an algorithm based on Piedmont hospital discharge abstracts for ascertainment of incident cases of breast, colorectal, and lung cancer.

Study Design And Setting: The algorithm training and validation sets were based on data from 2000 and 2001, respectively. The validation was carried out at an individual level by linkage of cases identified by the algorithm with cases in the Piedmont Cancer Registry diagnosed in 2001.