Where are you most likely to survive cancer in Europe and why?

In 2021, cancer was the second leading cause of death in the European Union, with 1.1 million deaths. This represented 21.6 percent of all deaths in the block that year.

Scientists devote significant effort and resources to finding effective treatments for cancer, advancing treatments, and focusing on improving early diagnosis.

Cancer survival estimates vary significantly depending on the type of cancer and country.

Survival refers to the proportion of individuals diagnosed with cancer who are alive after a certain period of time. It is commonly expressed as 1-year and 5-year survival.

The term “survival rates” is widely used, but Professor Michel Coleman, Co-Principal Investigator of the CONCORD Center Analytical Team and professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, explains that cancer survival estimates are probabilities, not rates.

“A rate is a time-dependent quantity, like a case rate or a death rate,” he explained.

Euronews Health examines cancer survival across Europe, exploring factors that contribute to inequalities between countries.

Cancer-related deaths in Europe

Apart from Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg, the data covers 24 EU countries and five other European countries (UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Turkey); comparisons are therefore based on these 29 countries.

Before presenting cancer survival estimates, it is important to consider cancer-related death rates across the EU and which types of cancers these deaths are attributed to.

According to 2019 data from OECD and Eurostat, lung cancer accounts for 24 percent of cancer-related deaths in men and 15 percent in women. Colorectal cancer contributed to 12 percent for both genders.

Prostate cancer accounts for 10 percent of deaths in men and breast cancer accounts for 16 percent of deaths in women.

Pancreatic cancer accounts for 6 percent of cancer-related deaths in men and 8 percent in women.

As we explain below and show in the chart, survival estimates can vary greatly depending on the type of cancer.

We’ll dive into some of the reasons for this after reviewing the 2010-2014 estimates based on CONCORD-3 data by Professor Claudia Allemani, professor of cancer epidemiology, and herself published in The Lancet in 2018. colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Lung cancer survival across Europe

Survival from lung cancer varies significantly across Europe; Bulgaria is at the bottom (7.7 percent), Switzerland and Latvia are at the top (20.4 percent), while the EU-24 average is 15 percent.

Other countries with notable survival rates include Iceland (20.2 percent), Austria (19.7 percent), Sweden (19.5 percent) and Norway (19 percent).

The lowest survival results are seen in Bulgaria (7.7 percent), followed by Lithuania (9.9 percent), Croatia (10 percent), Czechia (10.6 percent) and Romania (11.1 percent).

Among Europe’s five largest economies, Germany ranks first with a survival rate of 18.3 percent, followed by France (17.3 percent) and Italy (15.9 percent). However, both Spain (13.5 percent) and the United Kingdom (13.3 percent) remain below the EU average.

Although the Nordic countries generally rank well, Finland stands out as an exception with a survival rate of 13 percent.

Colon cancer survival across Europe

The survival rate for colon cancer ranged from 51.1 percent in Croatia to 72.1 percent in Cyprus; The EU-24 average was 60 percent.

The survival rate reached 65 percent or higher in six countries, including the four Nordic countries: Iceland (68.2 percent), Belgium (67.9 percent), Switzerland (67.3 percent), Norway (66 percent), 7) and both Sweden and Finland are at 64.9 percent.

Croatia, which was at the bottom of the ranking, was followed by Slovakia (51.8 percent), Romania (52.2 percent), Bulgaria (52.4 percent) and Poland (52.9 percent).

Among Europe’s five largest economies, Germany had the highest survival rate at 64.8 percent, while the United Kingdom had the lowest survival rate at 60 percent.

Prostate cancer survival rate is high

The survival rate for prostate cancer is higher than many other types of cancer.

The EU-24 average stands at 87 percent, with twelve countries achieving survival levels above 90 percent. Cyprus reported the highest survival at 99.2 percent, followed by Lithuania (94.3 percent) and Belgium (93.8 percent).

The lowest survival rate was seen in Bulgaria, at 68.3 percent, while estimates below 80 percent were recorded in Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Breast cancer survival rate is also high

The survival rate for breast cancer is also relatively high; The EU-24 average is 82 percent. Cyprus tops the rankings with a survival rate of 92.8 percent, followed by the four Nordic countries, excluding Denmark.

Among Europe’s five largest economies, the survival rate is minimal, ranging from 85.2 percent in Spain to 86.7 percent in France.

Lithuania and Romania recorded the lowest survival rate, both falling below 75 percent.

Survival rate for pancreatic and liver cancers remains critically low

The survival rate for pancreatic and liver cancers in the EU remains very low compared to many other cancers.

The survival rate for pancreatic cancer ranged from 5.5 percent in Malta to 13.7 percent in Latvia; The EU-24 average was approximately 9 percent. England was the country with the sixth lowest survival rate, at 6.8 percent.

The survival rate for liver cancer varies from 4.2 percent in Estonia to 20.7 percent in Belgium; The EU-24 average is approximately 12 percent.

In this type of cancer, once again, England reported the lowest survival rate with 13 percent, while Italy ranked second with 20.3 percent.

Survival rate for stomach cancer is just over one in four

The survival rate for stomach cancer is better than for pancreatic and liver cancers, but remains relatively low at just over a quarter (27%) across the EU-24.

The survival rate ranged from 16 percent in Bulgaria to 37.5 percent in Belgium. Cyprus, Austria and Germany also reported survival estimates exceeding one-third.

Conversely, in Denmark and Croatia the survival rate was 20 percent or less. The United Kingdom ranked fifth lowest, with a survival estimate of 20.7 percent.

4 in 10 survival rate for ovarian cancer

The average survival estimate for ovarian cancer in the EU-24 was 39.2 percent.

Sweden recorded the highest survival at 46.5 percent, followed by Cyprus, Latvia and Norway, where estimates exceed 45 percent.

Malta and Ireland, on the other hand, reported the lowest survival rates at less than a third. Among the top five economies, the UK had the lowest estimate with 36.2 percent.

Survival rate in melanoma cancer exceeds 80 percent

Survival for melanoma cancer has varied significantly; It ranged from 60.7 percent in Turkey to 93.6 percent in Switzerland; The EU-24 average was 83 percent.

All Scandinavian countries, as well as Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, reported higher survival rates, exceeding 87 percent.

Bulgaria and Poland, whose survival estimates were below 70 percent, followed Turkey at the bottom.

Survival rate in lymphoma reaches 60 percent

The survival rate for lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, averaged 61 percent across the EU-24. Romania and Bulgaria reported the lowest survival estimates of less than 45 percent, while Switzerland, Latvia, and Iceland reported the highest estimates exceeding 71 percent.

Why does survival vary by cancer type?

“These are very different diseases,” said Coleman, professor of epidemiology, in an interview with Euronews Health.

“Depending on where the cancer occurs and the type of nearby organ, they are more or less lethal depending on the type of cell, its genetic makeup, and the nearby organs,” he added.

For example, a tumor that arises in the brain is more likely to kill someone than a tumor that arises in the foot, he noted.

But the difference in survival isn’t just due to differences between diseases. Other factors include the stage at which the cancer is diagnosed, as well as differences in the availability and progression of treatments, Coleman explained.

“If a cancer is very early and localized, it stands to reason that survival with a particular treatment will be better than if survival is very advanced and widespread by the time of diagnosis,” he said.

Why does cancer survival rate vary significantly between countries?

As for the differences in survival estimates between countries, Coleman offered two main explanations.

First, they concern differences in age at diagnosis that have a major impact on the likelihood of survival. The stage of any cancer varies greatly between countries.

Secondly, the availability of and access to different more or less effective treatments also varies between countries.

“For example, radiotherapy, which is used or important as a potentially curative treatment for almost half of all cancers, is much more widely available in the wealthier countries of Western and Northern Europe than in the less developed countries of the East and, in some cases, Southern Europe” he said.

Dr. from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). On why survival rates are poorer in the UK compared to Germany and France, Volker Arndt told Euronews Health: “This difference is probably related to differences in healthcare capacity and how the healthcare system is organized, resulting in waiting times.”

Allemani, who is also Co-Principal Investigator at CONCORD, emphasized the critical role of treatment availability and noted that early diagnosis, although necessary, is inadequate without access to effective treatment.

He also emphasized the importance of cancer registries in Europe, warning that many registries, especially in Eastern Europe, were currently under threat.