Age-standardised relative survival (%) for lung cancer (ICD-9 code 162) five years after diagnosis for men, women and total diagnosed 1990-1994, in a number of countries (source: Eurocare-3; Sant et al., 2003)

UK: United Kingdom

Remarks

In order to be comparable between different populations, relative survival figures must be either age-specific or age-standardised. In EUROCARE-3 relative survival tabulated by country is presented as age-standardised survival. Age standardised country-specific survival was calculated by the direct method, using five age classes and, as standard, the age distribution of the whole set of cases analysed for each site. The same standard distribution was used for both sexes.

Age-standardised relative survival for total are calculated as weighted average of male and female age-standardised relative survival.

Difficulties in ascertaining the vital status of incident cases generally result in an overestimation of survival, as deaths are missed. The relative survival data for poor prognosis cancers, such as lung, pleura and liver cancer are indirect indicators of follow-up quality. High survival for such cancers suggests (but does not prove) inadequate follow up procedures. Inadequate follow-up is likely in Spain, Austria and, for 10-year survival, in Wales. The survival data for these countries should therefore be considered less reliable than for other registries (Capocaccia et al., 2003).