Background:
World-wide data on cancer survival are scarce. CONCORD-2 expands coverage to include geographic patterns and trends since 1995.
Aim:
To initiate world-wide surveillance of cancer survival by centralised analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, in order to inform global policy on cancer control.
Methods:
More than 270 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries provided individual tumour records for 28.7 million adults (15-99 years) diagnosed during 1995-2009 with cancer of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary or prostate, or leukaemia, and 75,000 children with leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied to all data sets; major errors were checked with the registry concerned. Net survival was estimated, corrected for background mortality by single year of age, sex, calendar year (and race) in each country or region. All-ages survival estimates were standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights.
Results:
Five-year survival has increased for colon, rectal and breast cancers. Survival remains low for liver and lung cancer in all geographical areas. Striking increases in prostate cancer survival have occurred in many countries, but the range is wide. The global range in cervical and ovarian cancer survival is also very wide. Stomach cancer survival is very high in Eastern Asia, while survival for both adult and childhood leukaemia is remarkably low. We will present comparative data on quality control, and world-wide patterns and trends in cancer survival since 1995.
Conclusions:
Robust comparison of survival trends and inequalities up to 2009 should prompt improvement of national health systems. The results will contribute to the overarching goal of UICC’s World Cancer Declaration 2013: “major reductions in premature deaths from cancer, and improvements in quality of life and cancer survival”.