THOUSANDS of women in deprived parts of the region are at a greater risk of dying from breast cancer because they do not take up vital screening appointments, research shows today.

Women from the poorer parts of the region are more likely to be suffering from the latter stages of the disease by the time it is diagnosed compared with their better-off counterparts.

The disturbing findings are released today in research carried out by Newcastle and Leeds universities, which studied more than 12,000 women with breast cancer registered on the Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry and Information Service (NYCRIS).

The study last night led to calls for more education to ensure women take up the chance of breast screening.

Of the women who took part in the study, 12.6 per cent had advanced breast cancer by the time they were diagnosed.

But those in the poorest fifth of the women were more than 50 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.

In the most affluent group, 10.5 per cent had advanced cancer compared with 16 per cent in the most deprived group.

The research, led by Jean Adams from Newcastle University, found that where breast cancer screening programmes were operating, the differences between the most affluent and most deprived were even greater.

Compared with the most well-off group, the chances of women in the most deprived fifth having advanced disease when diagnosed were 75 per cent higher among those eligible for screening (women aged 50 to 64) and 42 per cent higher for those who were not.

''It seems to be that more affluent women are being diagnosed earlier,'' said Ms Adams.

''These women are more likely to take part in screening and that could be partly responsible for this pattern.

''It could be that having to take time off work or get someone to look after the children is preventing poorer women from going for screening.

''Better-off women are generally more likely to take part in things that are good for them, whether that is exercise or breast screening.''

Ms Adams said while the reasons behind the differences were not entirely clear, efforts to close the gap should focus on particular groups rather than blanket coverage.

''The next step is to get a way of encouraging women from deprived areas to attend for screening and looking out for symptoms.

"This might be targeting them at work or if they don't work then finding other ways of getting the message across," she said.

Patricia Durning, consultant breast surgeon at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, said she was not surprised by the findings.

"It is not that the treatment is not available, but some people have lifestyles which do not put health education at the top of the list," she said.

"There is a lot of information that social deprivation and advanced diseases go hand-in-hand."

She added: "We should offer more education and we should encourage people to take the facilities which are available."

More than 40,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK and the lifetime risk for breast cancer in women is one in nine.