Survival rates for some cancers are climbing significantly
It’s true that 500 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer on this very day and another 200 will die of cancer before it’s over.
As the leading cause of death in Canada, accountable for 30 per cent of all deaths, cancer is clearly one formidable foe – and a word all of us dread hearing.
And while cancer can strike anyone at any age and exponentially play havoc with lives, close to 90 per cent of cancers are diagnosed in people over the age of 50.
So where’s the good news, you might be wondering.
The good news is that survival rates for some cancers are climbing significantly. Breast cancer is one of them. Twenty-five years ago the five-year survival rate was 73 per cent. Today it’s about 88 per cent.
The survival rate for prostate cancer 25 years ago was 68 per cent and it’s now it’s up to 96 per cent. Colorectal cancer rates offer another bit of good news. The survival rate 25 years ago was just over half and it’s now increased to 64 per cent.
“Rising survival rates in many cases are because of improvements in both early detection and improvements in treatments,” explains Gillian Bromfield, Director of Cancer Control Policy with the Canadian Cancer Society.
“Breast cancer is a good example of that. We have a screening test – the mammogram – that is effective in the right age group and has been shown to reduce mortality. We’ve also had tremendous improvements in terms of understanding breast cancer. We know a lot more about the different sub-types and also how to specifically target some of them.”
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