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Records show that cancer survival rates vary across different parts of the world, despite an overall increase in the odds of surviving cancer.
International cancer survival surveillance program CONCORD, which regularly tracks the five-year survival rates of cancer through a series of studies, recently conducted the third installment of its research. The study analyzed 37.5 million cancer patient records from 71 countries from 2010 to 2014 while focusing on most common types of cancers in the world, like stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, lung, and breast.
Data showed that high cancer survival rates were more conspicuous in developed countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, which topped the list. Meanwhile, less developed countries lag behind in cancer survival. For instance, breast cancer survival rate in India is 66%—considerably lower than in the United States and Australia, where survival rates can go as high as 90%. Likewise, developing country Ecuador’s 48.8% survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a far cry from Finland’s 95.2%.
Aside from disparities in cancer survival rates between developed and developing countries, some specific patterns were also established. For instance, stomach cancer has a higher survival rate in Asian countries like South Korea and Japan than in the United States. Around 69% survive stomach cancer in these Asian countries, while only 33% pull through in the United States.
Nevertheless, some types of cancer remain severely fatal regardless of the patient’s location. Pancreatic cancer’s survival rate across countries is below 15%.
Because of these differences, experts recommend improving international initiatives for better understanding of how to combat cancer.