18/07/2008

NI Has Best Cancer Survival Rates In The UK

Northern Ireland has the best cancer survival rates in the UK, a study of over 31 countries has shown.

Data on 1.9 million cancer patients diagnosed in 1991/94 and followed up until 1999 was analysed, comparing five-year survival of breast, colon, rectum and prostate cancers.

Focusing on statistics from the UK, Northern Ireland has the best five-year survival rates, followed by Scotland, England and coming in last was Wales. For example, just 5% of female rectal cancer patients in Scotland and Wales survived for five years, compared with 11% on women with colon cancer in Northern Ireland and Wales.

But overall, the US still promises better survival prospects to its cancer patients than Europe.

Writing in the Lancet Oncology, the authors said: "Most of the wide global range in survival is probably attributable to differences in access to diagnostic and treatment services.

"Survival is positively associated with gross domestic product and the amount of investment in health technology such as CT scanners. Part of the international variation in survival is thus probably attributable to under-investment in health resources."

(CD/JM)

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