A fresh analysis conducted by the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce in January 2024 revealed troubling findings about cancer survival rates in the UK compared to similarly affluent nations. Among 33 countries assessed for 5-year survival rates, the UK ranked disappointingly low: 16th for liver cancer, 21st for oesophageal cancer, 25th for brain cancer, 26th for pancreatic cancer, and 28th for lung and stomach cancers. Shockingly, only 16% of patients diagnosed with these six types of cancer in the UK are projected to survive beyond 5 years.

This revelation coincides with alarming reports from 2023 documenting the longest waiting times for cancer treatment in England, marking a nadir in recorded history for patient care.

Furthermore, a study originally published in 2020 in the Annals of Oncology has resurfaced, sparking renewed discourse on cancer survival in Poland. This study, focusing on prostate cancer mortality between 1970 and 2020, scrutinized trends across the six largest EU member states at the time: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Poland.

The analysis uncovered a concerning trend: while age-standardized mortality rates declined in five of the six countries from 1990 onwards, Poland saw an alarming 18% increase, with a stabilization observed from 2000 to 2014. This pattern echoes prior estimates from the European Commission in 2022, reiterated in October 2023, underscoring a concerning rise in cancer mortality rates in eastern European nations compared to their western counterparts.1

Read more here.

References

  1. Oncology, L. (2024). Safe and effective cancer care: how long must we wait? Lancet Oncology/Lancet. Oncology, 25(3), 265. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1470-2045(24)00097-4

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