What Doctors Don't Tell YouSurvival rates for patients suffering from cancers of the lung, breast, colorectum and prostate in England and Wales are lower than the average rates for Europe (Lancet, 1999; 353: 1437-8).
The comparative trends in survival were compiled as a collaborative effort by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and UK charity Cancer Research Campaign, and based on data from 2.87 million adults with cancer. Some of the poor survival rates found in the UK were put down to differences in screening and access to types of treatment.
The London based support group CancerBACUP noted that “If Britain could achieve the same rate of survival as the best performing European country for each [of these cancers], 25,000 lives per year would be saved.”
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
