title: Survival for oesophageal, stomach and small intestine cancers in Europe 1999-2007: Results from EUROCARE-5.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  European regional variation in cancer survival was reported in the EUROCARE-4 study for patients diagnosed in 1995-1999. Relative survival (RS) estimates are here updated for patients diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, stomach and small intestine from 2000 to 2007. Trends in RS from 1999-2001 to 2005-2007 are presented to monitor and discuss improvements in patient survival in Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  EUROCARE-5 data from 29 countries (87 cancer registries) were used to investigate 1- and 5-year RS. Using registry-specific life-tables stratified by age, gender and calendar year, age-standardised 'complete analysis' RS estimates by country and region were calculated for Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Europe, and for Ireland and United Kingdom (UK). Survival trends of patients in periods 1999-2001, 2002-2004 and 2005-2007 were investigated using the 'period' RS approach. We computed the 5-year RS conditional on surviving the first year (5-year conditional survival), as the ratio of age-standardised 5-year RS to 1-year RS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Oesophageal cancer 1- and 5-year RS (40% and 12%, respectively) remained poor in Europe. Patient survival was worst in Eastern (8%), Northern (11%) and Southern Europe (10%). Europe-wide, there was a 3% improvement in oesophageal cancer 5-year survival by 2005-2007, with Ireland and the UK (3%), and Central Europe (4%) showing large improvements. Europe-wide, stomach cancer 5-year RS was 25%. Ireland and UK (17%) and Eastern Europe (19%) had the poorest 5-year patient survival. Southern Europe had the best 5-year survival (30%), though only showing an improvement of 2% by 2005-2007. Small intestine cancer 5-year RS for Europe was 48%, with Central Europe having the best (54%), and Ireland and UK the poorest (37%). Five-year patient survival improvement for Europe was 8% by 2005-2007, with Central, Southern and Eastern Europe showing the greatest increases (⩾9%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Survival for these cancer sites, particularly oesophageal cancer, remains poor in Europe with wide variation. Further investigation into the wide variation, including analysis by histology and anatomical sub-site, will yield insights to better monitor and explain the improvements in survival observed over time.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Electronic address: l.anderson@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: National Center of Epidemiology, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavilla
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research and Division of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: Bremen Cancer Registry, Leibniz-Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luttmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Murcia Regional Health Council, IMIB-Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Department of Health and Social Sciences, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom; Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Gavin
authors.affiliation: Saarland Cancer Registry, Präsident Baltz Straße 5, 66119 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Holleczek
authors.affiliation: Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bannon
authors.affiliation: Analytical Epidemiology and Health Impact Unit, Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sant
keywords: Europe; Oesophageal; Small intestine; Stomach; Survival