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England's cancer survival remains lower than some developed countries: report

Xinhua, August 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Despite steady improvements, England's cancer survival is still lower than countries with similar healthcare systems, according to a report released Wednesday by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Researchers from the school compared survival for colon, breast, lung, ovarian, rectal and stomach cancers in England, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Sweden between 1995 and 2009, and survival trends in England up to 2012.

The study included more than 1.9 million cancer patients in England and another 1.9 million cancer patients from the other five countries.

Of all the regions, cancer survival was lowest in England overall, while Australia and Sweden had the highest cancer survival overall, according to the report.

Compared with the better performing countries - Australia, Canada, Norway and Sweden - five-year survival was 5 to 12 percent lower in England across all the cancer types measured for patients diagnosed between 2005 and 2009, according to the report.

But researchers also said that England's survival continued to improve, in some cases faster than elsewhere. Five-year survival from breast cancer improved more in England than in the four leading countries, and survival for all cancers except ovarian improved faster in England than Australia.

The rapid improvements seen over the past 20 years have been driven by better investment, setting and measuring targets within the health system, and developing new ways to diagnose and treat cancer, said Dr Sarah Walters, the report's lead author. Endit