Cancer Survival Rates
Submitted by CARPE DIEM
THE ECONOMIST — A study in the Lancet Oncology journal compares cancer survival rates across five continents for the first time. Afer adjusting country data from the 1990s, for differences in both age and death rates in the general population, Americans were found to have the best chance of survival for two of the five cancers that the reasearchers considered: breast cancer in women and prostate cancer. (Cuba had impressive survival rates, but these were probably over-estimated, say researchers). Europe lags behind America, with wide differences in survival rates, ranging from 10% for breast cancer to 34% for prostate cancer. Money appears to be an important factor: America spends a greater proportion of national income on health than the other countries.
