Percentage of People that Survive

Tuesday, 23 June 2009 20:32

Survival from a specific cancer is

Usually Survival is the proportion of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive five years after diagnosis.

Cancer survival rates in a population are affected by a number of factors, most importantly, the types of cancer that occur, the stages at which cancers are diagnosed, and whether treatment is available.
For certain cancers, there are large survival differences between economically developed and developing countries. For example, five-year survival rates for breast cancer in the United States are approximately 81%, compared to 32%
in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is mostly due to the greater availability of early detection and more effective treatments in North America than in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also due, in part, to detecting cancers earlier in the course of disease
through screening (lead time bias) and detecting some cancers that might not progress.
Similar worldwide variations are noted for cancers of the colon, uterine cervix, and prostate, also for which both early detection and improved treatment are responsible for improved survival. For childhood and other cancers (such as lymphocytic leukemia, non- Hodgkin lymphoma, and testis) availability of treatment is mainly responsible for better
survival in developed countries.
For some cancer sites without early detection or effective treatment (poor prognosis), such as esophagus, liver, lung, and pancreatic cancer, survival rates vary little between developing and developed countries. Primary prevention is currently the most effective defense against such cancers with known risk factors.

Five-Year Relative Survival (%) for Selected Cancers Among Men and Women Aged 15 and Older in Europe and the United States