A new study in U.S. found higher education lowers the risk for black and white women and men, media reported Thursday.
Rresearchers collected data on 137,708 cancer deaths from 2001 involving black and white men and women between the ages of 25 and 64.
Researchers found that more education was associated with lower death rates from cancer among all race and gender groups. The greatest difference was found between people with 12 or fewer years of education and those with more than 12 years of schooling.
Compared with those with the lowest levels of education, those with the highest levels of education cut their risk of dying from cancer. For the highest educated white men, the risk was cut by 48 percent, for white women it was cut by 76 percent as it was for black men, and the most educated black women had a 43 percent lower risk of dying from cancer, the researchers reported.
"Cancer mortality varies a great deal for all cancers by individual level of education," said Elizabeth Ward, director of cancer surveillance in the American Cancer Society. "If we could get everyone's cancer mortality to the level we see among the best educated, it would make a huge impact on cancer in the United States."
Education is tied to socioeconomic status and access to medical care, Ward noted. The new study finding makes it clear that many of the factors that influence cancer mortality are preventable, she said.
"They are preventable by social policies -- things we can change, such as smoking prevention, access to cancer screening and opportunities to good nutrition and physical activity," Ward said.
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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