Changes in five-year relative survival rates in Poland in patients diagnosed in the years 1999–2010

Abstract

Introduction. Survival rates are a tool that allows evaluation of healthcare quality and cancer treatment efficiency. The main aim of this article is to present tendencies in curability of Polish patients diagnosed between 1999–2010 and followed up until the end of 2015. Materials and methods. Survival analysis was performed using data from the Polish National Cancer Registry and Statistics Poland. The survival rates were calculated using Hakulinen method. Results. In Poland, five-year survival rates in men for all cancers increased from 32.9% (diagnosis 1999–2001) to 41.3% (diagnosis 2008–2010), whereas in women, from 50.9% to 56.1% respectively. The biggest improvement was found in therapy of prostate cancer (by 15.5 percentage points), hematological malignancies (7–13 p.p.), malignancies of bone and cartilage (10–14 p.p.), thyroid gland cancers (5–9 p.p.) and kidney cancer (7–9 p.p.). Discussion. Although survival rates are lower than in other European countries, survival of oncology patients in Poland has improved. Conclusions. 1. In Poland, survival of patients with majority of cancer types has improved. 2. The greatest increase in survival rates was observed for rare malignancies. 3. The improvement occurred during the time when the National Cancer Control Program was implemented.