Skip to main content
. 2014 Jan 29;91(3):510–525. doi: 10.1007/s11524-013-9846-3

Table 2.

Associations between urban–rural residence and cancer risk: adjusted relative risks (RR)a, with 95 % confidence intervals, by cancer site and sex

Cancer site Males Females
Rural Intermediate Urban Rural Intermediate Urban
Cancer sites positively associated with socioeconomic status
 Malignant melanoma 1.0 (ref) 1.20 (1.10–1.31) 1.08 (0.99–1.18) 1.0 (ref) 0.99 (0.92–1.07) 1.06 (0.98–1.14)
 Non-melanoma skin cancer 1.0 (ref) 1.10 (1.06–1.14) 1.13 (1.10–1.17) 1.0 (ref) 1.11 (1.07–1.15) 1.23 (1.19–1.27)
 Breast 1.0 (ref) 1.05 (1.02–1.08) 1.09 (1.05–1.12)
 Prostate 1.0 (ref) 0.97 (0.93–1.01) 0.94 (0.90–0.97)
Cancer sites negatively associated with socioeconomic status
 Head and neck 1.0 (ref) 1.20 (1.11–1.30) 1.53 (1.42–1.64) 1.0 (ref) 1.08 (0.96–1.22) 1.29 (1.15–1.45)
 Esophagus 1.0 (ref) 1.07 (0.98-1.17) 1.21 (1.11–1.31) 1.0 (ref) 1.10 (0.98–1.24) 1.21 (1.08–1.35)
 Stomach 1.0 (ref) 1.15 (1.07–1.25) 1.36 (1.27–1.46) 1.0 (ref) 1.06 (0.96–1.16) 1.19 (1.08–1.30)
 Colorectal 1.0 (ref) 1.07 (1.03–1.12) 1.14 (1.09–1.18) 1.0 (ref) 1.01 (0.97–1.06) 1.04 (1.00–1.09)
 Pancreas 1.0 (ref) 0.96 (0.88–1.06) 0.93 (0.85–1.02) 1.0 (ref) 1.07 (0.98–1.18) 1.06 (0.97–1.17)
 Lung 1.0 (ref) 1.25 (1.19–1.31) 1.54 (1.47–1.61) 1.0 (ref) 1.35 (1.27–1.44) 1.74 (1.65–1.84)
 Bladder 1.0 (ref) 1.18 (1.10–1.27) 1.30 (1.21–1.39) 1.0 (ref) 1.15 (1.03–1.29) 1.31 (1.17–1.46)
 Kidney 1.0 (ref) 1.06 (0.97–1.15) 1.05 (0.96–1.14) 1.0 (ref) 1.10 (0.99–1.23) 1.13 (1.01–1.26)
 Cervix 1.0 (ref) 1.39 (1.26–1.52) 1.48 (1.35–1.62)
Cancer sites not associated with socio-economic status
 Brain and CNS 1.0 (ref) 1.01 (0.91–1.11) 1.03 (0.94–1.14) 1.0 (ref) 1.03 (0.92–1.16) 1.13 (1.01–1.26)
 Ovary 1.0 (ref) 1.02 (0.96–1.10) 1.02 (0.96–1.09)
 Uterus 1.0 (ref) 0.97 (0.90–1.05) 0.94 (0.87–1.01)
 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 1.0 (ref) 0.99 (0.92–1.07) 1.05 (0.98–1.13) 1.0 (ref) 0.95 (0.88–1.03) 1.04 (0.97–1.13)
 Leukaemia 1.0 (ref) 0.96 (0.89–1.04) 0.94 (0.86–1.01) 1.0 (ref) 0.98 (0.89–1.08) 0.99 (0.90–1.09)

aAdjusted for age, country, unemployment, educational attainment, and elderly living alone; RRs shown in bold are statistically significantly different from 1 (p≤O.05)