Life expectancy with cancer has risen across Europe

Life expectancy with cancer has risen across Europe

03/03/2014

Across Europe, survival has increased in the first five years following a cancer diagnosis. For breast tumors and other common cancers, life expectancy in Germany was above the European average.

More and more cancer patients survive the first five years
More and more cancer patients across Europe survive the first five years after diagnosis. This reports the „pharmacy magazine“ (3/2014 A l), citing the Eurocare 5 study. It is based on data from around half of European adults and 77% of children diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2007. The study contains data on the survival of some ten million cancer patients in 29 European countries and documents whether and how medical progress is affecting the population of Europe.

Germany is above average
While in 2001 around 78 out of 100 breast cancer patients in Europe survived the first five years after diagnosis, in 2007 this figure rose to around 82 out of 100. With 84 out of 100 there were even more survivors in Germany. Germans generally have the best prognosis, because for almost all cancers the survival rates are in the top group. It is particularly pleasing that the improved situation also applies to cancerous diseases in children.

Eastern Europe has the lowest survival rates
The relative 5-year survival rate had risen throughout Europe in particular for prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of lymph node cancer and rectal cancer. In tumors of the lung and ovaries, however, there was stagnation. Survival rates were highest in Northern, Central and Southern Europe. They were lowest in Eastern Europe and some cancers in England and Ireland.

Various causes for the rising survival rates
For the rising survival rates of experts are discussed various causes. Among other things, they are attributable to improved screening methods, optimized therapies for new drugs, interdisciplinary patient care and the specialization of treatment centers. EUROCARE (Euopean Cancer Registry Based Survival And Care Of Cancer Patients) is the largest cancer survivorship research project in Europe. The project has been under Italian management since 1989. (Sb)

Picture: Rainer Sturm