Improved survival of Danish cancer patients 2007-2009 compared with earlier periods.

INTRODUCTION: For the majority of cancers, improved long-term survival may be accessed from survival during the first year after diagnosis. A steady improvement in survival was seen both before and after the introduction of cancer control plans in 2000 and 2005. On the basis of data from 2007-2009, we studied the trend in 1-year survival after the introduction of the 2005 plan.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: All cancers from 1995-2009 were studied in five 3-year cohorts of incident cases which were followed-up for death to the end of 2010. Age-standardised 1-, 3- and 5-year relative survival was calculated and 1-year survival presented for 2004-2006 and 2007-2009 to allow comparison with our previous publication.

RESULTS: The improvement over time in overall 1-year age-standardised relative survival was maintained with a three percentage point increase to 72% for men and 75% for women. Exclusion of prostate and breast cancer from calculations lowered relative survival to 65% and 67%, respectively; but improvement was maintained. Cancer sites which previously enjoyed a high survival saw the least or no improvement as was the case for haematological cancers, except for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in men. The differences in survival between men and women are diminishing, especially for cancers of the digestive tract.

CONCLUSION: The improvements over time in survival after introduction of the cancer plans were maintained for non-haematological cancers. The fast-track system for diagnosis and treatment introduced gradually by cancer sites until the end of 2008 along with some centralisation of elective surgery may have narrowed the gap in cancer survival between men and women for digestive tract cancers and may also have improved survival for other cancers, e.g. the sex-specific types and kidney and brain cancers.

FUNDING: not relevant.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.