More European Cancer Patients Are Living Longer

An estimated 5% of the European population had a recent or distant history of cancer in early 2020, according to data from the EUROCARE-6 study published in The Lancet Oncology.

Researchers found that 38% of patients with prevalent cancers in Europe were still alive more than 10 years after a cancer diagnosis. The researchers noted that this is lower than the estimate for US cancer patients, which was 47% in early 2020, according to SEER data.

The EUROCARE-6 study included 19,538,317 primary cancer cases from 61 cancer registries in 29 countries. Patients were observed for a median of 20 (range, 9-35) years.

An estimated 23,711 people with a previous cancer diagnosis were still alive as of January 1, 2020, which represents 5% of the population. The cancer survivors were more likely to be women than men — 5.3% and 4.7%, respectively. Most cancer survivors were 65 years of age or older, including 62.1% of female survivors and 69.7% of male survivors.

The estimated crude cancer prevalence (per 100,000) was 5254 for women and 4656 for men. Patients with breast and prostate cancers accounted for about 40% of all cancer survivors. The crude prevalence of breast cancer in women was 2270, and the crude prevalence of prostate cancer was 1714. Colorectal cancer was the second most common cancer for men and women, with a crude prevalence of 691 and 564, respectively.

The estimated crude proportion of cancer prevalence (per 100,000) was highest in central Europe and lowest in eastern Europe (5601 and 3476, respectively). For women, the prevalence was lowest in Poland and highest in Italy (3562 and 6338, respectively). For men, it was lowest in Bulgaria and highest in Germany (2372 and 5692, respectively).

The researchers estimated that the total number of cancer survivors increased from 16,805 on January 1, 2010, to 23,710 on January 1, 2020, a relative change of 41%. The crude prevalence increased 37%, from 3615 to 4961 cases per 100,000.

During that 10-year period, the prevalence of cancer patients who were still alive 5 years after diagnosis was estimated to have increased by 28%, and the number of patients living for more than 10 years after diagnosis was estimated to have increased by 50%.

In 2020, an estimated 14,850 people were still alive more than 5 years after a cancer diagnosis and 9099 were still alive more than 10 years after diagnosis.

This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor