Estimation of the number of cancer survivors in Japan.
Cancer prevalence statistics are necessary for cancer control programs. Although a long-term cancer registry keeps files which cover incidence, prevalence and cured cases, the latter two categories are difficult to distinguish from each other. The Connecticut and the Finnish Cancer Registries therefore defined the sum of these two groups as "prevalence." The authors estimated the numbers and rates of survivors from cancer ("prevalence") in Japan as of January 1, 1985, based on the number of cancer patients for all sites diagnosed since 1960. The number of cancer patients in Japan diagnosed during the period from 1960 to 1984 was estimated to be 4,686,352 (both sexes). Of these, the number of cancer survivors as of January 1, 1985 was estimated to be 952,870 (both sexes). Among the survivors, 430,940 were diagnosed in the final five years from 1980-84. The results were compared with those reported from the USA and Finland.
D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011379:Prognosis