Myeloma survival can be influenced by social class

STATES CHRONICLE – We know that household income and education can be very important for our life. If we live in a family that can provide us all we need, is easier to achieve our goals. According to a new study, there is more. These factors can help people survive the myeloma cancer. For many years, researchers thought that race is the main factor that leads to myeloma, but things seem to change.

Of course, some minorities have to struggle with poverty, low education level, and no insurance.  People that do not have access to health care are getting sicker than those that can go to the doctor every year. Some scientists think it is not racing that influence survival. Is the effect of race that causes negative social factors, which are more common in minorities.  However, multiple myeloma is a rare type of cancer. The diseases causes 13 000 deaths every year and there are very few people diagnosed with this cancer while they are young.

Although the reason was not found yet, it seems that black people are more likely to get this cancer than the white people. There are new treatments for these tumors  and more people managed to survive even if cancer is the most dangerous disease.

Researchers used a data of 10 000 patients that were diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Most of the were around 60 years old, were marries and had health insurance. They found out that survival odds were influenced by marital status and income. A patient who was unmarried and had a low health insurance was less likely to live than a married person that had private insurance. Of course, family can be really important. For some people, family is the only reason they want to fight against this disease.

It seems that race is not so important because there are other factors that influence people getting sick or not. If you a good insurance and income, you are able to find treatment and you have more chances. A poor person will never be able to pay for a good treatment and that is why income is important.  Education can also make a difference. People who went to school pay more attention to their health and they want to be healthy to achieve their goals.

Unfortunately, not all people are lucky to have these things. That is the reason why myeloma can be a threat.

Image source: Wikipedia