Unemployment and austerity were associated with more than 260,000 extra deaths of cancer patients in countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Development, a study shows.

Those countries with universal health coverage, such as Australia and the UK, and a record of increased public health spending had fewer casualties.

Lead scientist Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, from Imperial College London, said: “We found that increased unemployment was associated with increased cancer mortality, but that universal health coverage protected against these effects. This was especially the case for treatable cancers including breast, prostate and colorectal (bowel) cancer.”

The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, looked at links between unemployment, public health care spending, and cancer deaths in more than 70 high and middle-income countries.

The data included fatality rates for several “treatable” cancers including breast, prostate and bowel cancer, and other deadlier cancers such as those of the lung and pancreas.

Higher unemployment was associated with increased mortality from all the different cancer types, especially treatable cancers, between 2008 and 2010.

Lack of access to care may have been a factor that contributed to these excess deaths, researchers said.

In countries with universal health coverage the link between unemployment and excess cancer deaths disappeared. These were countries where UHC was enshrined in law and where 90 per cent of the population had access to health care.

Of the OECD countries, 26 had universal health coverage while nine including Russia and the US did not.

PAA