East, West European cancer survival gap widens

Cancer survival rates throughout Europe are improving, but the gap between eastern and western nations is widening.

Forty percent of men and 47% of women in Europe are alive five years after developing all types of cancer, according to a major study released Thursday. But people living in Austria, France and Switzerland have the highest odds of beating the disease and those in Slovakia, Estonia and Poland the lowest. Professor Michel Coleman, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an author of the report, told attendees at a cancer meeting that overall survival was below the European average for both sexes in eastern nations and in Denmark, England, Scotland and Wales. Five-year survival rates in the United States are 62% for men and 63.5% for women, according to the National Cancer Institute. The EUROCARE-3 study, the largest international cancer survival study, is funded by the European Union. It compared survival rates in 22 countries from 42 types of cancer for 1.8 million adults and 24,000 children diagnosed with the disease between 1990-1994 and followed up until 1999.Luxembourg, Greece, Belgium and Ireland were not included because the data were not available. “We have the average survival for the whole population as a public health surveillance measure, not survival rates that come from (medical) trials,” said Coleman. Differences in the stage, or severity, of the tumor at the time of diagnosis, access to treatments and investment in healthcare account for the gulf between eastern and western Europe. “The earlier you get diagnosed the better,” he added. (Source: Reuters Health: Patricia Reaney: September 25, 2003: Oncolink)