title: Stage-specific survival of epithelial cancers in North-Holland/Flevoland, The Netherlands.
abstract: While stage is the most important factor for determining cancer survival, population-based survival data according to stage are rarely presented. We present such data for a large population diagnosed with cancer in the area covered by the Amsterdam Cancer Registry for the period 1989-2001 (n=108,251). Cases were grouped according to the TNM-classification. For all sites, a close correlation between stage at diagnosis and survival was observed. The stage-specific 5-year relative survival rate (RSR) ranged from close to 100% for stage I carcinoma of the salivary glands, thyroid, colon/rectum, skin, breast, female genitals, prostate and urethra to 1% for stage IV carcinoma of the oesophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and lung. Between 1989-1991 and 1999-2001, we observed an increase in the stage-specific RSR for carcinoma of colon/rectum (stages II-IV), lung (stages I-II), breast (stages I-III) and prostate (stages II-IV). Changes in diagnostic (breast, prostate) and staging procedures (lung), surgery (rectum, prostate) and adjuvant treatment (breast, colon) are likely to have contributed to this increase.
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive Cancer Centre Amsterdam, P.O. Box 9236, 1006 AE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. o.visser@ikca.nl
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D015996:Survival Rate