Editorial Medicalfacts/ Janine Budding 29 August 2023 – 23:07
The survival rates of cancer patients have also increased steadily in recent years. The 5-year survival increased from 64% for patients diagnosed in 2010-2014 to 67% for patients diagnosed in 2015-2019. This is evident from figures from the Dutch Cancer Registry of IKNL. The 2-year survival also appears to have increased slightly in patients who were diagnosed during the covid-19 years 2020-2021: 76%. This was 1% higher than for patients diagnosed in 2015-2019 (75%).
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the first half of 2020, cancer diagnosis was delayed in many patients. This gave rise to fears that this would have a negative effect on survival chances. The figures now available show that the 2-year survival of patients diagnosed in 2020-2021 has hardly been influenced or has improved slightly.
See the news item for an interactive graph and 5-year survival here
Covid-19 a cancer
Especially in the spring of 2020, fewer cases of cancer were diagnosed than usual. The temporary interruption of the population screening for cancer and fear of infection when visiting a GP or hospital were responsible for this. Because the population screenings were soon resumed and calls were made in the media to consult a doctor in case of complaints, the number of cancer diagnoses returned to normal after a few months after more diagnoses were temporarily made.
Although there was a quick recovery, some of the cancer patients were diagnosed several weeks to months later. The question at the time was whether this would also affect survival rates in the long term. On an individual level, this certainly could have been the case. However, the figures now show that, across the total population of patients, this has not had a noticeable negative effect on the 2-year survival rate: there was even an increase in 2-year survival of 75% (diagnosis in 2015-2019; before covid-19) to 76% (diagnosis in 2020-2021; during the covid-19 epidemic). Although a negative effect in the longer term cannot be ruled out, this is not very likely, because a higher 2-year survival (as currently observed) almost always results in a higher survival in the longer term.
Survival by cancer type
There is great variation in survival by cancer type. The 5-year survival varies from more than ninety percent for skin cancer (both melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma) and testicular cancer to less than ten percent for pancreatic cancer, lung and peritoneal cancer, among others. These differences in survival are persistent and arise mainly because the symptoms differ greatly, so that some forms of cancer are discovered quickly and are therefore easily treatable, while other forms of cancer are only discovered when the disease has already metastasized and cure in many cases is no longer possible. possible. Compared to 2010-2014 (the period of diagnosis), the 5-year survival in 2015-2019 (period of diagnosis) is especially higher for colorectal cancer and lung cancer, namely a six percentage point increase for both. In the case of bowel cancer, this is mainly due to the introduction of the population screening, as a result of which bowel cancer is detected earlier. Survival in lung cancer has increased mainly due to the introduction of new drugs for the treatment of lung cancer. Although these drugs are not effective in all lung cancer patients, they have improved the average survival of lung cancer patients.
Rise in time
Survival rates have risen steadily over the past few decades. The annual increase is less than one percentage point, but compared to 1995-2004, there is a total increase of fourteen percentage points in 2015-2021 (from 53% 5-year survival in 1995-2004 to 67% in 2015-2021 ). Especially with haematological malignancies (+19%), kidney cancer (+17%), colon cancer (+14%), lung cancer (+13%) and thyroid cancer (+11%), we see a considerably higher survival in twenty years. The increase was limited for, among others, head and neck cancer (+3%), stomach cancer (+3%), cervical cancer (no change) and testicular cancer (+1%). This is partly (as with testicular cancer) because survival has already reached a high level.
About NKR Figures
On the website NKR Figures everyone can easily view survival figures from the Dutch Cancer Registry. This application has been recently updated. In addition to figures such as incidence (number of diagnoses per year), prevalence (the number of people living with and after the diagnosis of cancer) and mortality (the number of people who die as a result of cancer), you can now also find figures about relative survival*). Survival can be viewed by cancer type, sex, age group and stage. It is also possible to split or merge groups into line graphs, bar graphs and tables. These figures can be exported to an Excel file or downloaded as an image
*) In relative survival, observed survival rates of cancer patients are corrected for non-cancer related mortality. After all, cancer patients can also die from causes other than cancer.
Source: NKI
Editorial Medicalfacts/ Janine Budding
I studied physiotherapy and Health Care business administration. I am also a registered independent client support worker and informal care broker. I have a lot of experience in various positions in healthcare, the social domain and the medical, pharmaceutical industry, nationally and internationally. And have broad medical knowledge of most healthcare specialties. And of the care laws from which the care is regulated and financed. Every year I attend most of the leading medical conferences in Europe and America to keep my knowledge up-to-date and to keep up with the latest developments and innovations. Currently I am doing a Masters in Applied Psychology.
My posts on this blog do not reflect the strategy, policy or direction of any employer, nor are they work by or for any client or employer.
2023-08-29 21:09:42
#influence #covid19 #survival #cancer #patients #MedicalFacts.nl
