Cancer survival rates

According to the latest numbers released by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, surpassed only by heart disease. The CDC reports over half a million deaths from cancer in 2014, and the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) reports 454.8 new cases of cancer per 100,000 people per year, with an estimate of 1,685,210 new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2016. Between 2008 and 2012, the number of cancer deaths was 171.2 per 100,000 men and women per year. Globally, the leading cause of cancer death in high income economies in 2015 was trachea, bronchus, and lung cancers (49.5 deaths per 100,000), followed by colon and rectum cancers (27.5 deaths per 100,000) and breast cancer (15.6 per 100,000). Cancer is not a leading cause of death in low income economies, where the leading cause of death is communicable diseases.

Cancer survival rates vary by the type of cancer, stage at diagnosis, treatment given and many other factors, including country. In general survival rates are improving, although more so for some cancers than others. Survival rate can be measured in several ways, median life expectancy having advantages over others in terms of meaning for people involved, rather than as an epidemiological measure.

However, survival rates are currently often measured in terms of 5-year survival rates, which is the percentage of people who live at least five years after being diagnosed with cancer, and relative survival rates compare people with cancer to people in the overall population.

Several types of cancer are associated with high survival rates, including breast, prostate, testicular and colon cancer. Brain and pancreatic cancers have much lower median survival rates which have not improved as dramatically over the last forty years. Indeed, pancreatic cancer has one of the worst survival rates of all cancers. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 26% according to Cancer Centers of America's website. Small cell lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of 4% according to Cancer Centers of America's Website.

Early diagnosis is an important factor in survival rates. The American Cancer Society reports 5-year relative survival rates of over 70% for women with stage 0-III breast cancer with a 5-year relative survival rate close to 100% for women with stage 0 or stage I breast cancer. The 5-year relative survival rate drops to 22% for women with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer.

...
Wikipedia