Income Disparities in Cancer Screening: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013-2019

Abstract

Background: Cancer is one of the leading chronic diseases, which causes premature mortality in Korea. Early detection has been reported to be associated with reduced mortality and morbidity. Consistent evidence reports that lower screening rates are associated with socioeconomic-based disparities. This study aimed to examine income-related disparities in cancer screening services and to analyze the association between utilization of cancer screening and individual characteristics, including income levels.

Methods: This study utilized the data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a population-based survey from 2013 to 2019. The study population included individuals aged 40 years or over. The variables were socioeconomic characteristics and perceived health status. Household income was categorized into quartiles from Q1 (the lowest income group) to Q4 (the highest income group). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the association between cancer screening and individual characteristics and household income levels.

Results: There were 20,347 individuals included in this study. Among these, 14,741 (72.4%) had undergone cancer screening. There existed a gap in the utilization of cancer screening between the lowest (Q1) and highest (Q4) income quintiles owing to evident income disparities; Q4 thus had a significantly higher likelihood of undergoing cancer screening than other quintiles. Female sex, university and over education, number of chronic diseases, and private insurance coverage were positively associated with cancer screening (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that policymakers should develop and design strategies to increase awareness and efforts to improve the education and promotion of cancer screening among lower-income target groups.