Cancer survival in UK and Denmark lags behind that in Australia, Canada, and Sweden

Late diagnosis means that patients in the United Kingdom and Denmark are less likely to survive bowel, lung, breast, or ovarian cancer than patients in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, a new study concludes.

The study of the records of 2.4 million adults who were given a diagnosis of one of the cancers between 1995 and 2007 found that patients were living longer in 2007 in all the six countries studied than they were in the late 1990s (Lancet, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62231-3). But survival rates were persistently higher in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, intermediate in Norway, and lower in Denmark and the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland), especially in the first year after diagnosis and in people aged over 65.

Many countries have implemented …