More people are surviving for longer after they have been diagnosed with cancer, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology. People aged 50 to 64, who had been diagnosed with any of several types of cancer in 2005 to 2009 were 39% to 68% more likely to be alive 5 years later than people of the same age who had been diagnosed with the same cancer in 1990 to 1994.
The percentages of people who were alive 5 years after their diagnosis in 1990 to 1994 were about 58% for colon or rectal cancer compared to 43% for those diagnosed between 2005 and 2009. For breast cancer, the respective survival 5-year survival rates were 83% versus 52%. For liver cancer, they were 7% and 39%. For cancer of the pancreas, they were 5% and 27%.
However, these improved survival rates are not uniform across racial lines or ethnicities. Blacks experienced poorer survival rates than whites for all cancers. The difference in survival between races decreased from the 1990s to the early 2000s for men with prostate cancer, but increased for women with ovarian cancer. Survival rates for black women with ovarian cancer actually went down.
These findings are from an analysis of data from a national sample of more than a million people who had been diagnosed with any of several types of cancer between 1990 and 2010. They had been enrolled in the one of the nine registries run by the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program.
People who were younger when they were diagnosed with cancer tended to have better survival rates than those who were older. This may be because doctors avoid aggressive care for elderly people with cancer out of fear that they will not tolerate the treatment as well.
These improvements in survival are due to advances in treatment, better screening programs and tests for cancer, according to the study.
The study can be read at http://oncology.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2118568.
