Survival after cancer improves overall, despite large disparities

By Pascale Santi

Posted today at 10:30 a.m., updated at 10:31 a.m.

Rather, the good news is that more and more people with cancer are still alive five years after being diagnosed with the disease. This is what emerges from the fourth study published Tuesday, July 6 by the National Cancer Institute (INCA), Public Health France (SPF), the French network of cancer registries (Francim), and the biostatistics service of the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Remember that the number of new cases of cancer in France is estimated at nearly 382,000 in 2018, of which 54% in humans. With 157,400 deaths, 57% of which in men, cancer is the leading cause of death in men and the second in women in France.

This study followed 730,000 people diagnosed with cancer between 1989 and 2015 in metropolitan France, aged 15 or over at the time of diagnosis. It covers 50 locations of solid tumors and 23 hematologic malignancies.

Overall, survival tends to improve, reflecting “The progress made in the healthcare system both in the detection of cancers, but also in their therapeutic management”, indicates the study. But there are nevertheless very strong disparities according to location and age at diagnosis. Thus, five-year survival varies from 96% for thyroid cancers to 7% for certain lung tumors. Certain tumors therefore still leave little hope (pleural mesothelioma, pancreas, liver, lungs, central nervous system, stomach, in particular) with survival rates of less than 33%; this means that there is only a one in three chance of being alive five years after diagnosis. These tumors with an unfavorable prognosis represent 32% of cancer cases in men and 19% in women. Emphasis must therefore be placed on improving treatment for these locations, specify the INCA and SPF.

Tobacco or alcohol = poor prognosis

Despite an improvement, lung cancer, the third most frequent with 46,300 new cases in 2018, remains a very poor prognosis and the deadliest in France, with 33,100 deaths in 2018, of which 69% are men. Most cancers with a poor prognosis (lung, esophagus, liver) are associated with tobacco or alcohol, underlines this study.

Improving survival rates and treatments for cancers with a poor prognosis, as well as strengthening prevention, are key areas of the ten-year strategy (2021-2030) to fight cancer, announced in February 2021. “Tobacco and alcohol are responsible for 45,000 and 16,000 cancer deaths, respectively, each year, recalls Lionel Lafay, head of the observation and documentation department of the INCA, thus, if preventive measures against alcohol and tobacco consumption were put in place, 60,000 cancers could be avoided by 2040. “

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