Study finds big survival variations

The Concord study - collected from 1.9 million cancer patients in 31 countries across five continents - also revealed that the UK lagged behind most other industrialised nations for five-year survival rates for three types of cancer.

The United States was found to have some of the highest cancer survival rates in the world, but they were "systematically and substantially" lower for black patients than white.

The US breast cancer survival rate among black women was 71%, compared with 85% for white women. Black prostate cancer patients had a survival rate of 86%, compared with 92% for white patients.

Michael P Coleman, professor of epidemiology and vital statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and one of the report's authors, said: "The differences in cancer survival between countries and between black and white men and women in the USA are large and consistent across geographic areas.

"Most of the wide variation in survival is likely to be due to differences in access to diagnostic and treatment services, and factors such as tumour biology, state at diagnosis or compliance with treatment may also be significant."

Survival rates in the UK were below the European average for all the types of cancer looked at by the study: breast, prostate and colorectum. The rate for surviving breast cancer in the UK was just under 70%, compared with a European average of 73%, and a US figure of 84%.

For prostate cancer the UK rate was 51%, compared with 92% in the US and a European average of 57% .
Dr Sarah Cant, policy manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, pointed out that the Concord report was based on old data - patients diagnosed between 1990 and 1994.

"Figures show UK survival rates for breast cancer have increased significantly. Around 80% of women in the UK are now expected to live for at least five years after a breast cancer diagnosis. This is thanks to better awareness, better breast screening and better treatments," she said.

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