Abstract
BackgroundCancer survival statistics are typically reported by using measures discounting the impact of other-cause mortality, such as net survival. This is a hypothetical measure and is interpreted as excluding the possibility of cancer patients dying from other causes. Crude probability of death partitions the all-cause probability of death into deaths from cancer and other causes.MethodsThe National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service is the single cancer registry for England. In 2006–2015, 1,590,477 malignant tumours were diagnosed for breast, colorectal, lung, melanoma and prostate cancer in adults. We used a relative survival framework, with a period approach, providing estimates for up to 10-year survival. Mortality was partitioned into deaths due to cancer or other causes. Unconditional and conditional (on surviving 1-years and 5-years) crude probability of death were estimated for the five cancers.ResultsElderly patients who survived for a longer period before dying were more likely to die from other causes of death (except for lung cancer). For younger patients, deaths were almost entirely due to the cancer.ConclusionThere are different measures of survival, each with their own strengths and limitations. Careful choices of survival measures are needed for specific scenarios to maximise the understanding of the data.
Highlights
Cancer survival statistics are typically reported by using measures that discount the impact of other-cause mortality, such as net survival.[1]
Not all patients who are diagnosed with cancer will die from their disease. This is true for elderly patients and further depends on the prognosis of the specific cancer site, which is of particular importance as non-cancer mortality can sometimes exceed mortality due to cancer
Crude probabilities are a more useful measure for reflecting the true probability of death as it presents mortality partitioned into deaths due to cancer and deaths due to other causes, and appropriately reports the impact of competing mortality
Summary
Cancer survival statistics are typically reported by using measures discounting the impact of other-cause mortality, such as net survival. This is a hypothetical measure and is interpreted as excluding the possibility of cancer patients dying from other causes. Cancer survival statistics are typically reported by using measures that discount the impact of other-cause mortality, such as net survival.[1] These are generally reported at specific time points post diagnosis in order to assess the accumulated impact of the excess mortality associated with the cancer diagnosis. Not all patients who are diagnosed with cancer will die from their disease. This is true for elderly patients and further depends on the prognosis of the specific cancer site, which is of particular importance as non-cancer mortality can sometimes exceed mortality due to cancer
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