The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7467 p223
1 September 2007

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UK cancer survival remains behind leaders on the continent

Cancer survival rates in the UK are still lagging behind Europe's best performing countries, two Lancet Oncology studies published online suggest (21 August 2007).

The studies report the findings of the EUROCARE-4 trial in 1995–99 and 2000–02. The first study found that, although survival rates improved and geographical differences shrank from 1995 to 1999, survival rates were still low in the UK compared with much of western Europe.

Five-year breast cancer survival was around 83 per cent in Finland and Sweden, 82 per cent in France and Italy, but about 77 per cent in the UK. For colorectal cancer, five-year survival was above 57 per cent in Nordic countries and several central and southern European countries, but 51 per cent in the UK.

The authors comment that between-country survival differences are small for relatively rare and treatable cancers, such as testicular cancer and Hodgkin’s disease, and for cancers with poor prognoses.

However, they say: “For common cancers with intermediate progress — for which early diagnosis is typically an important determinant of outcome — survival still differs markedly, and probably unacceptably, between countries in Europe. Understanding the reasons for these persistent (but diminishing) differences is important for public-health response to cancer in Europe.”

The second study showed that, from 2000 to 2002, breast and colorectal cancer five-year survival rates in England, Scotland and Wales were still below the average of the countries included in the EUROCARE-4 study.

The authors suggest that wider dissemination of cancer intelligence could help narrow the differences in survival across Europe: “Sharing the dividends of successful national cancer plans between European policy makers and, in the long-term, developing a pan-European cancer plan could assist in the adoption of modern diagnostic and treatment facilities and the establishment of evidence-based clinical practice in all European countries.”