A Spanish study has presented survival percentages in nine types of cancer, after a period of five years from diagnosis. Cancer survival in Spain is almost the same as the European average, the lowest rate being for cases of lung cancer (under 11%).

At this study took part 57,622 people from eight regions in Spain. Murcia, Navarra, Girona, Basque Country, Tarragona, Albacete, Granada and Castellón are the eight regions in Spain with a record in cancer illness. Cases diagnosed between 1995 and 1999 were monitored until 2004 and prognosis were established.

María Dolores Chirlaque, lead author of the study and researcher in the Epidemiology Service of the Department of Health and Consumption in Murcia, told SINC (Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas): “the innovative factor contributed by our work is its relevance to population and measurement of relative survival, which enables us to discover survival related to cancer in a more precise way."

This study offers a better understanding of the situation of people having survived more than five years from their cancer diagnosis. The nine malignant tumors taken into consideration are: lung, prostate, ovary, testicle, rectum, colon, breast, melanoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In Europe, Spain is very close to the average survival rate for these tumors. Countries like Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway present the highest survival rates and are at the opposite of Poland, the Czech Republic or Slovenia. Between the Spanish regions, Navarra and Granada have the highest differences in lung cancer, and Albacete and Castellón in breast cancer.

Cancer has become a curable disease nowadays and Chirlaque points out that “of every four people who suffer from it (with the exception of lung cancer), more than three overcome it". In breast cancer, a tumor very common in women, chances of survival are of 83% after five years, whereas in lung cancer chances are very low (10%); percentages may differ depending on age like for ovarian cancer that has a 70% survival rate for women between 15 and 44 and only 19% for those over 74, or for Hodgkin's lymphoma – 92% among young people and under 50% for the elderly.