Dramatic Improvement in Breast Cancer Survival Among UK Women

Behind the Cancer Headlines®

November 15, 2005

Almost two thirds of all British women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are now likely to survive for at least 20 years, according to a new study by Cancer Research UK. Women between 50 and 69, the age at which breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed, have an even better prognosis, with 72 percent likely to reach the 20 year mark. And almost 80 percent of breast cancer patients in that age range will survive at least 10 years.

Overall, women diagnosed in the early 1990s had around a 54 percent chance of surviving for more than 10 years and a 44 percent chance of surviving more than 20 years. But 10 years on, the rates for today's breast cancer patients are predicted to improve by between 17 and 20 percent. Newly diagnosed women are predicted to have a 72 percent chance of 10 year survival and a 64 percent chance of 20 year survival.

According to a report by Cancer Research UK epidemiologist Professor Michel Coleman, "Overall long-term survival for women with breast cancer has improved dramatically over the last 10 years and we are seeing even better survival statistics for women in their fifties and sixties." Coleman predicted that survival for younger women would also improve, though a little less dramatically than in older age groups.

In the early 1990s women diagnosed before age 50 had a 60 percent chance of surviving 10 years and a 50 percent chance of surviving 20 years. Those survival rates are predicted to increase by between 13 and 14 percent – to 73 and 64 percent, respectively – for women diagnosed during the first few years of this century.

SOURCE:

Cancer Research UK (http://www.cancerresearchuk.org)