Cancer in Europe -We can cure cancer, some of the time.

Eurocare is a study looking at the number of people who survive cancer in different European countries (view a map here). The 4th part of the study “Eurocare 4″ was published at the end of March.  So what doe we know now that we didn’t know before?  Well it depends who you ask.  Cancer Research UK reported the results saying “Cancer Cure rates in Europe Improving” but according to a BBC news night report the UK is 14th out of 19 European countries for cancer survival.

Why the differences?  Well, as always if you want an in depth review of a health news story NHS Choices is a good place to look “Cancer Survival Rates” they point out that the data from each country is only as good as their national cancer registry.  In the UK we are very good at collecting this sort of data, but some other countries in Europe don’t have as much data as us. This study looked at cancer diagnosed before 1999 and treatments (and waiting times) have improved since then, so if you have cancer that has been diagnosed after 1999 then the chances your survival rates will be higher that those reported by Eurocare 4.

The study shows that just over half of women (51.4%) and more than a third (41%) of men are completely cured of cancer (rather than the more traditional measure of survive 5 years after diagnoses).  Of course these numbers are averages and hide huge differences between different types of cancer, in Scotland only 5% of people with lung cancer are cured (whereas in France and Spain more than 10% of people with lung cancer survive). In women breast cancer is cured in 73% of women in Finland, Sweden, France and Spain but the figures for Scotland are lower with 66% being cured.  Some of the differences in breast cancer surviavl are probably due to differences in screening (when and how the different countries carry out mammography) (Figures from the Guardian)

Doctors have pointed out that all this data applies before 1999 and since then there has been more investment in cancer care, however whether or not that has been a success is a different story and we won’t know the answer for several years yet.