RECORD numbers of Scots are surviving cancer, according to figures released yesterday.
The five-year survival rate for men has increased from 25 per cent for those diagnosed in the late 1970s to 41 per cent for those diagnosed in the late 1990s. The five-year survival rate for women has increased from 36 per cent to nearly 50 per cent.
Yesterday’s figures were described as hugely encouraging by Malcolm Chisholm, Scotland’s Health Minister. He said the figures pre-dated the Executive’s extra investment in cancer services and reflected advances made in past decades in earlier diagnosis and better treatment. “There is clearly still much work to do to tackle the burden of cancer in Scotland,” he said. “However, latest figures show we are still on track to deliver our target of reducing cancer mortality in people under 75 by 20 per cent by 2010.”
The figures are said by NHS statisticians to show “a substantial and significant” improvement in the probability of surviving cancer in the long term. They compare the five-year survival probability rates for those diagnosed with cancer from 1977 to 1981 and those diagnosed from 1997 to 2001.
Breast cancer survival rates have increased from 60 per cent to 77 per cent over the same period, probably due to a combination of new treatments, earlier diagnosis and better-organised care. Improvements have also been seen in survival rates for cancers of the colon and rectum, with about 50 per cent of patients surviving for at least five years after diagnosis, compared with 24 per cent beforehand.
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Survival rates for women with ovarian cancer rose from 31 per cent to 47 per cent, for leukaemia in men from 20 per cent to 50 per cent and for women from 23 per cent to 49 per cent. The biggest improvement was in the rare disease of thyroid cancer, where survival rates improved from 38 per cent to 79 per cent in men and from 51 per cent to 73 per cent in women.
Survival rates for prostate cancer also improved, from 37 per cent to 60 per cent. Statisticians said this was partly due to a new diagnostic test which could help with early detection.
But internal cancers, which often become apparent only in their advanced stages, showed smaller improvements. Survival rates remained poor for men with lung cancer, at 7.7 per cent, and for patients with pancreatic cancer (men 3.5 per cent, women 5 per cent).
Survival rates improved for stomach cancer patients (men up from 6 per cent to 13 per cent, women up from 9 per cent to 18 per cent), for oesophageal cancer (men up from 4 per cent to 10 per cent, women up from 7 per cent to 13 per cent) and for lung cancer in women (up from 5.5 per cent to 9 per cent).