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Cancer

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 12 January 2006:As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what the five-year survival rates were for (a) prostate cancer, (b) breast cancer, (c) bowel cancer, (d) lung cancer and (e) all other cancers in each of the last 10 years.(41168)Cancer survival rates are only produced for specific cancers and are calculated by combining several years of diagnosis.The latest available five-year survival rates for the selected major cancers in England are for adult patients (aged 15–99 years) diagnosed during 1998–2001 and followed up to the end of 2003, These figures and survival rates for patients diagnosed during 1991–95 and 1996–99 in England and Wales are given in the attached table.

Five-year age-standardised relative survival (%) for adult patients diagnosed during 1991–95 (England and Wales), 1996–99 (England and Wales) and 1998–2001 (England), major cancers by sex(9)
		Five-year relative survival
Cancer		Patients diagnosed 1991–95 Englandand Wales	Patients diagnosed 1996–99 Englandand Wales	Patients diagnosed 1998–2001 England
Prostate	Men	53.6	64.8	70.8
Breast	Women	72.8	77.5	79.9
Colon	Men	42.1	46.9	49.4
	Women	42.8	47.9	50.2
Rectum	Men	40.3	46.8	50.0
	Women	44.8	51.1	53.6
Lung	Men	5.2	5.8	6.3
	Women	5.4	6.4	7.5
Source: Office for National Statistics
(9) As cancer survival varies with age at diagnosis, the relative rates for all ages (15–99) have been age-standardised to control for changes in the age profile of cancer patients over time, thus making them comparable with previously published figures.
(10) Aged 15–99 years.
(11) Cancers registered in 1991–94 and 1995–2001 are, respectively, defined by codes in the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD9) and Tenth Revision ICD10). Therefore, prostate cancer is defined by codes 185 or C61, breast cancer by codes 174 or C50, colorectal (bowel) cancer by codes 153–154 or C18-C21 and lung cancer by codes 162 or C33-C34.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

41168; 441 c763-4W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Breast cancer Cancer Diseases Gender Prostate cancer Lung cancer Bowel cancer

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk