This contributed volume addresses the link between the social environment and cancer in Europe. The authors document the wide range and diverse trends in cancer incidence and patient survival in Europe, and they identify the main mechanisms and key influences that underlie these inequalities. They suggest a series of actions and programmes to tackle these inequalities in Europe, within the conceptual framework of intervention research.
The influence of the social environment on the risk of suffering and dying from cancer is obviously a global phenomenon, as evidenced by a growing number of studies and books. In part, the underlying mechanisms are universal. Given the availability of a new standardised measure for social deprivation in Europe (the European Deprivation Index), the networking of population-based cancer registries across Europe as efficient surveillance tools, the increasing comparability of the organisation of care in European countries,and the recent launch of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, this extensive review of social inequalities in cancer on a European scale is both relevant and timely.
The book consists of 21 chapters organised in four sections:

• Part I - General Considerations and Methodologic Aspects
• Part II - Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Survival - Reports
• Part III - Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Survival - Mechanisms
• Part IV - Towards an Evidence-Based Policy for Tackling Social Inequalities in Cancer

Social Environment and Cancer in Europe: Towards an Evidence-Based Public Health Policy is a unique resource that presents up-to-date methods for analysing quantitative data. It focusses on inequalities in cancer incidence and survival within the wider framework of inequalities in health. This book will be an essential reference for policy-makers, researchers, public health professionals, social scientists and oncologists.

Part I -  General Considerations and Methodologic Aspects

1 Social Inequities in Cancer: Why Develop Scientific Research?
2 Population-Based Cancer Registries: A Data Stream to Help Build an Evidence-Based Cancer Policy for Europe and for European Countries
3 The European Deprivation Index: A Tool to Help Build an Evidence-Based Cancer Policy for Europe
4 Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence: Methodological Considerations
5 Social Disparities in Cancer Survival: Methodological Considerations
Part II - Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Survival - Reports
6 Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence Among Adults in Europe
7 Social Disparities in Survival from Breast Cancer in Europe
8 Social Disparities in Survival from Prostate Cancer in Europe
9  Social Disparities in Survival from Lung Cancer in Europe
10 Social Disparities in Survival from Head and Neck Cancers in Europe
11 Disparities in Cancer Survival in Adults in Europe: The CONCORD Programme
Part III - Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Survival - Mechanisms
12 Overview of Main Mechanisms Involved in Social Disparities in Cancer Incidence and Prognosis
13 Behavioural Factors in the Social Gradients in Cancer Incidence
14 Occupational Factors in the Social Gradients in Cancer Incidence
15 Environmental Determinants of the Social Gradient in Cancer Incidence
16 Life-Course Approach, Embodiment, and Cancer
17 Role of Screening in the Social Gradient for Survival of Cancer Patients in Europe
18 The Role of Comorbidities in the Social Gradient in Cancer Survival in Europe
19 Geographical Remoteness and Cancer Survival in Europe
Part IV - Towards an Evidence-Based Policy for Tackling Social Inequalities in Cancer
20 Links Between Research in Public Health and Public Health Policy: The Conceptual Framework of Interventional Research
21 Social Inequalities in Cancer: The Policies of the European Commission.