There is a huge variation in cancer survival rates across the world, a major new study has revealed.
The Concord study, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, analysed five-year survival rates for three types of cancer across 31 countries.
Cancer patients in the United States, Japan and France live longer than those elsewhere because of early diagnosis and treatment, according to the study.
Data were collected from 1.9 million cancer patients across five continents, in what is believed to be the first global snapshot of cancer survival rates.
The study found that survival rates for breast cancer in Europe were 73 per cent, compared to 84 per cent in the United States. For prostate cancer, the European average survival rate was 57 per cent, compared with 92 per cent in the United States.
The study also found that while the United States had some of the highest cancer survival rates in the world, they were “systematically and substantially” lower for black patients than white.
The US breast cancer survival rate among black women was 71 per cent, compared with 85 per cent for white women.
Black prostate cancer patients had a survival rate of 86 per cent, compared with 92 per cent for white patients.
The study also found that cancer survival seems to be tied to a country's gross domestic product and its spending on technologies such as computed tomography scanners.
Under-investment in health resources is likely to play a role in countries with poor results, the researchers said. "Most of the wide global range in survival is probably attributable to differences in access to diagnostic and treatment services," London-based lead author Michel Coleman of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group wrote in the report.
Algeria, for example, had "by far" the lowest survival for all cancers studied in both men and women, Mr Coleman said.
The survival rates for some cancers were also linked to different types of health insurance.
Survival was highest among patients with private insurance, "intermediate" among those with national insurance, and lowest among those with none, the study found.
Northern Ireland patients outlived the rest of the UK, while people in Wales scored the lowest. Elderly women in England had especially poor survival rates when compared with Australia, which most likely has more effective treatment options, the study said.
According to the study, Brazil had a better survival rate for colorectum cancer among men - 47 per cent - than Britain, with 42 per cent.
Cancer Research UK said minority ethnic groups face specific risks from certain types of the disease, and proper data on the ethnicity of patients was vital.
Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer information, said: “The report is the first major study to compare cancer survival across five continents and has highlighted the stark differences in survival between poor and wealthy countries.
“By showing that cancer survival among ethnic populations in the US is up to 15 per cent lower than among the white population, it demonstrates the crucial importance of collecting data among black and ethnic minorities.”
Prof Michael P Coleman of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine, and one of the report’s authors, said: “The differences in cancer survival between countries and between black and white men and women in the USA are large and consistent across geographic areas.
“Most of the wide variation in survival is likely to be due to differences in access to diagnostic and treatment services, and factors such as tumour biology, state at diagnosis or compliance with treatment may also be significant."
The researchers plan more analysis of how differences in stage at diagnosis and treatment explain international variation in survival rates.
Reuters/Bloomberg