Washington, Sept 12: Researchers at the American Cancer Society have found that having some education beyond high school is strongly associated with a decreased risk of developing cancer.

The study found that higher education levels were strongly associated with decreased cancer mortality from lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers among black men, white men, and white women. The difference in mortality for all groups was greatest between those with 12 or fewer years of education and those with more than 12 years.

Jessica Albano, MPH, led the researchers on the study.

Previous studies have found that groups of people with less education have higher death rates, but the current study is the first to analyse mortality by race/ethnicity, and is are the first to look at the four major causes of cancer death.

But the point of difference is not just confined to level of education, as colour of the skin is also a deciding factor.

For all cancer sites combined, death rates among white and black men with the lowest (0-8 years) level of education were about three times higher than those with the highest (17+ years) level of education.

At every level of education, death rates were higher for black than white men.

Unlike the relationships between level of education and cancer death rates among men, the relationship for women is different. It is far weaker for the fairer sex.

However, cancer death rates were lower for black women as compared to the death rates of white women.

Several findings revealed that there is a very strong relationship between years of education and prostate cancer was found for black men. Though the level of education was strongly associated with prostate cancer mortality in both black and white men, still at each level of education death rates for black men were substantially higher than those for white men.

In addition to this, it has been also found that white women with higher levels of education had lower breast cancer death rates than those with less education. This finding may reflect in part the increasing importance of early detection and timely and appropriate treatment in preventing deaths from breast cancer.

"Our study shows socio-economic factors, as measured by years of education, play an important role in the risk of dying of cancer," said Elizabeth Ward, Ph.D., American Cancer Society director of surveillance research and study co-author.

"The relationships between socio-economic status and race are complex and the strengths of the relationships we see depend in large part on what is measured in particular studies. Although this study measured differences in cancer mortality by individual level of education and race, the observed disparities likely result from multiple factors that influence health and health care at the individual, community and national level.'

"Differences in cancer mortality by level of education should continue to be measured and used to track progress as we work to eliminate health disparities," she added.

The study also brings in the picture that cancer disparities in social and economic factors are preventable. The authors say these differences reflect the relationships between education and other factors that are more directly associated with risks of developing and dying from cancer, such as tobacco use, cancer screening and access to timely and appropriate healthcare.

The differences in educational and employment opportunities, income, housing, overall standard of living, and access to medical care that are not fully captured by the single measure of socio-economic status (i.e. years of education) available for their analysis reflect the higher cancer mortality among blacks compared to whites at similar levels of education.(With Inputs from ANI)