Cancer survival is increasing across the globe, according to a new study.
But there are wide variations between countries, and the UK is lagging behind comparable nations for many common cancers.
“Inadequate or unreliable data prevent governments from understanding the true nature and magnitude of the public health problems created by the growing cancer burden.” – Dr Claudia Allemani, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said the improvements are encouraging, but that more needs to be done to tackle cancers with stubbornly low survival.
The study, published in The Lancet (link is external), looked at more than 37.5 million cancer patients from 71 countries. From 2000-2014 it compared how many of them survived for 5 years after their diagnosis with one of 18 types of cancer.
It found that the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden led the way in survival for most cancers.