Five-year survival rate for gastric cancer: an International comparison by economic groups

Abstract

Over the past half century, there has been a significant increase in the number of patients surviving cancer. At the same time, experts emphasize that this progress is uneven: a number of the most aggressive forms of cancer show minimal improvements in survival rates compared to the 1970s. For some oncological pathologies, such as melanoma or skin cancer, ten-year survival rates exceed 90%, and in general, about half of patients diagnosed with cancer can expect to live for more than ten years - twice as long as in the early 1970s. However, the results of the study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine indicate that for cancers of the esophagus, stomach, lung and pancreas, the improvement remains minimal: ten-year survival for these pathologies does not exceed 20%, and for pancreatic cancer it is about 5%. Scientists note that the trend towards increasing survival rates for many types of cancer is primarily associated with the development of diagnostics and improved treatment approaches. A striking example is breast cancer, for which ten-year survival rates increased from 42% to over 76% between 1971 and 2018 due to the introduction of screening programs and the emergence of targeted therapies. In contrast, oncological diseases with the lowest survival rates are usually difficult to detect early and are characterized by limited therapeutic options. As a result, the difference between the best and worst survival rates is constantly increasing.