IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v100y2014icp54-61.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A fundamental cause approach to the study of disparities in lung cancer and pancreatic cancer mortality in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Rubin, Marcie S.
  • Clouston, Sean
  • Link, Bruce G.

Abstract

This study examines how associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and lung and pancreatic cancer mortality have changed over time in the U.S. The fundamental cause hypothesis predicts as diseases become more preventable due to innovation in medical knowledge or technology, individuals with greater access to resources will disproportionately benefit, triggering the formation or worsening of health disparities along social cleavages. We examine socioeconomic disparities in mortality due to lung cancer, a disease that became increasingly preventable with the development and dissemination of knowledge of the causal link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer, and compare it to that of pancreatic cancer, a disease for which there have been no major prevention or treatment innovations. County-level disease-specific mortality rates for those ≥45 years, adjusted for sex, race, and age during 1968–2009 are derived from death certificate and population data from the National Center for Health Statistics. SES is measured using five county-level variables from four decennial censuses, interpolating values for intercensal years. Negative binomial regression was used to model mortality. Results suggest the impact of SES on lung cancer mortality increases 0.5% per year during this period. Although lung cancer mortality rates are initially higher in higher SES counties, by 1980 persons in lower SES counties are at greater risk and by 2009 the difference in mortality between counties with SES one SD above compared to one SD below average was 33 people per 100,000. In contrast, we find a small but significant reverse SES gradient in pancreatic cancer mortality that does not change over time. These data support the fundamental cause hypothesis: social conditions influencing access to resources more greatly impact mortality when preventative knowledge exists. Public health interventions and policies should facilitate more equitable distribution of new health-enhancing knowledge and faster uptake and utilization among lower SES groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Rubin, Marcie S. & Clouston, Sean & Link, Bruce G., 2014. "A fundamental cause approach to the study of disparities in lung cancer and pancreatic cancer mortality in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 54-61.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:100:y:2014:i:c:p:54-61
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.10.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613005741
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.10.026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saldana-Ruiz, N. & Clouston, S.A.P. & Rubin, M.S. & Colen, C.G. & Link, B.G., 2013. "Fundamental causes of colorectal cancer mortality in the United States: Understanding the importance of socioeconomic status in creating inequality in mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(1), pages 99-104.
    2. Cameron, A Colin & Trivedi, Pravin K, 1986. "Econometric Models Based on Count Data: Comparisons and Applications of Some Estimators and Tests," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 1(1), pages 29-53, January.
    3. Rubin, M.S. & Colen, C.G. & Link, B.G., 2010. "Examination of inequalities in HIV/AIDS mortality in the United States from a fundamental cause perspective," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(6), pages 1053-1059.
    4. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Applications to Poisson Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 701-720, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jinani Jayasekera & Eberechukwu Onukwugha & Christopher Cadham & Donna Harrington & Sarah Tom & Francoise Pradel & Michael Naslund, 2019. "An ecological approach to monitor geographic disparities in cancer outcomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Sean A. P. Clouston & Marcie S. Rubin & Jo C. Phelan & Bruce G. Link, 2016. "A Social History of Disease: Contextualizing the Rise and Fall of Social Inequalities in Cause-Specific Mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1631-1656, October.
    3. Changfa Xia & Clare Kahn & Jinfeng Wang & Yilan Liao & Wanqing Chen & Xue Qin Yu, 2016. "Temporal Trends in Geographical Variation in Breast Cancer Mortality in China, 1973–2005: An Analysis of Nationwide Surveys on Cause of Death," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Jennifer Boyd & Clare Bambra & Robin C. Purshouse & John Holmes, 2021. "Beyond Behaviour: How Health Inequality Theory Can Enhance Our Understanding of the ‘Alcohol-Harm Paradox’," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, June.
    5. Ángel R. Zapata-Moya & María J. Martín-Díaz & Francisco J. Viciana-Fernández, 2021. "Area-Based Policies and Potential Health Benefits: A Quasi-Experimental Cohort Study in Vulnerable Urban Areas of Andalusia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Clouston, Sean A.P. & Rubin, Marcie S. & Chae, David H. & Freese, Jeremy & Nemesure, Barbara & Link, Bruce G., 2017. "Fundamental causes of accelerated declines in colorectal cancer mortality: Modeling multiple ways that disadvantage influences mortality risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1-10.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gouriéroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain, 1997. "Modèles de comptage semi-paramétriques," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 73(1), pages 525-550, mars-juin.
    2. Jeffrey Englin & Klaus Moeltner, 2004. "The Value of Snowfall to Skiers and Boarders," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 29(1), pages 123-136, September.
    3. Dionne, Georges & Vanasse, Charles, 1997. "Une évaluation empirique de la nouvelle tarification de l’assurance automobile (1992) au Québec," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 73(1), pages 47-80, mars-juin.
    4. Qian Chen & David E. Giles, 2009. "Finite-Sample Properties of the Maximum Likelihood Estimator for the Poisson Regression Model With Random Covariates," Econometrics Working Papers 0907, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    5. Blundell, Richard & Griffith, Rachel & Windmeijer, Frank, 2002. "Individual effects and dynamics in count data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 113-131, May.
    6. Dionne, Georges & Gagne, Robert & Gagnon, Francois & Vanasse, Charles, 1997. "Debt, moral hazard and airline safety An empirical evidence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 379-402, August.
    7. Cuicui Lu & Weining Wang & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2018. "Using generalized estimating equations to estimate nonlinear models with spatial data," Papers 1810.05855, arXiv.org.
    8. Baptista, Rui & Swann, Peter, 1998. "Do firms in clusters innovate more?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 525-540, September.
    9. Georges Dionne & Olfa Ghali, 2005. "The (1992) Bonus‐Malus System in Tunisia: An Empirical Evaluation," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 609-633, December.
    10. Michael R. Baye & J. Rupert J. Gatti & Paul Kattuman & John Morgan, 2009. "Clicks, Discontinuities, and Firm Demand Online," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 935-975, December.
    11. William Greene, 2007. "Correlation in Bivariate Poisson Regression Model," Working Papers 07-14, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    12. Konstantinos Drakos & Andreas Gofas, 2006. "In Search Of The Average Transnational Terrorist Attack Venue," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 73-93.
    13. Bauer, Thomas K. & Million, Andreas & Rotte, Ralph & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1998. "Immigration Labor and Workplace Safety," IZA Discussion Papers 16, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Frank T. Rothaermel & Andrew M. Hess, 2007. "Building Dynamic Capabilities: Innovation Driven by Individual-, Firm-, and Network-Level Effects," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(6), pages 898-921, December.
    15. Rothaermel, Frank T. & Thursby, Marie, 2007. "The nanotech versus the biotech revolution: Sources of productivity in incumbent firm research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 832-849, July.
    16. Ronald S Wall & Martijn J Burger & G A (Bert) van der Knaap, 2011. "The Geography of Global Corporate Networks: The Poor, the Rich, and the Happy Few Countries," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(4), pages 904-927, April.
    17. Clouston, Sean A.P. & Rubin, Marcie S. & Chae, David H. & Freese, Jeremy & Nemesure, Barbara & Link, Bruce G., 2017. "Fundamental causes of accelerated declines in colorectal cancer mortality: Modeling multiple ways that disadvantage influences mortality risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 1-10.
    18. George Papachristou, 2004. "The British gambler's fallacy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(18), pages 2073-2077.
    19. Clément Bosquet & Hervé Boulhol, 2014. "Applying the GLM Variance Assumption to Overcome the Scale-Dependence of the Negative Binomial QGPML Estimator," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 772-784, October.
    20. Zapata-Moya, Angel R. & Freese, Jeremy & Bracke, Piet, 2023. "Mechanism substitution in preventive innovations: Dissecting the reproduction of health inequalities in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:100:y:2014:i:c:p:54-61. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.