Social Work Commons^™

Colon Cancer Care And Survival: Income And Insurance Are More Predictive In The Usa, Community Primary Care Physician Supply More So In Canada, Kevin M. Gorey, Sindu M. Kanjeekal, Frances C. Wright, Caroline Hamm, Isaac N. Luginaah, Emma Bartfay, Guangyong Zou, Erc J. Holowaty, Nancy L. Richter

Social Work Publications

Background: Our research group advanced a health insurance theory to explain Canada’s cancer care advantages over America. The late Barbara Starfield theorized that Canada’s greater primary care-orientation also plays a critically protective role. We tested the resultant Starfield-Gorey theory by examining the effects of poverty, health insurance and physician supplies, primary care and specialists, on colon cancer care in Ontario and California.

Methods: We analyzed registry data for people with non-metastasized colon cancer from Ontario (n = 2,060) and California (n = 4,574) diagnosed between 1996 and 2000 and followed to 2010. We obtained census tract-based socioeconomic data from population …

Better Colon Cancer Care For Extremely Poor Canadian Women Compared With American Women, Kevin M. Gorey, Isaac N. Luginaah, Emma Bartfay, Guangyong Zou, Sundus Haji-Jama, Eric J. Holowaty, Caroline Hamm, Sindu M. Kanjeekal, Fraces C. Wright, Madhan K. Balagurusamy, Nancy L. Richter

Social Work Publications

Extremely poor Canadian women were recently observed to be largely advantaged on most aspects of breast cancer care as compared with similarly poor, but much less adequately insured, women in the United States. This historical study systematically replicated the protective effects of single- versus multipayer health care by comparing colon cancer care among cohorts of extremely poor women in California and Ontario between 1996 and 2011. The Canadian women were again observed to have been largely advantaged. They were more likely to have received indicated surgery and chemotherapy, and their wait times for care were significantly shorter. Consequently, the Canadian …

Breast Cancer Care In Canada And The United States: Ecological Comparisons Of Extremely Impoverished And Affluent Urban Neighborhoods, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

This study examined the differential effect of extreme impoverishment on breast cancer care in urban Canada and the United States. Ontario and California registry-based samples diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 were followed until 2006. Extremely poor and affluent neighborhoods were compared. Poverty was associated with non-localized disease, surgical and radiation therapy (RT) waits, non-receipt of breast conserving surgery, RT and hormonal therapy, and shorter survival in California, but not in Ontario. Extremely poor Ontario women were consistently advantaged on care indices over their California counterparts. More inclusive health insurance coverage in Canada seems the most plausible explanation for such Canadian …

Breast Cancer Survival In Canada And The Usa: Meta-Analytic Evidence Of A Canadian Advantage In Low-Income Areas, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

BACKGROUND: This study tested the hypothesis that relatively poor Canadian women with breast cancer have a survival advantage over their counterparts in the USA.

METHODS: Seventy-eight independent retrospective cohort (incidence between 1984 and 2000, followed until 2006) outcomes were synthesized. Fixed effects meta-regression models compared women with breast cancer in low-income areas of Canada and the USA.

RESULTS: Low-income Canadian women were advantaged on survival [rate ratio (RR) = 1.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.13-1.15] and their advantage was even larger among women <65 years of age who are not yet eligible for Medicare coverage in the USA (RR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.18-1.24). Canadian advantages were also larger for node positive breast cancer, which may present with greater clinical and managerial discretion (RR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.30-1.50), and smaller when Hawaii, the state providing the most Canadian-like access, was the US comparator (RR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.01-1.20).

CONCLUSIONS: More inclusive health care insurance coverage in Canada vs the USA, particularly among each country's relatively …