Study explores reasons for significant variations in blood cancer survival across Europe

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

The EUROCARE study, the largest population-based study of survival in European blood cancer patients to date, analyzed data from 30 cancer registries, involving all patients with cancer diagnoses in 20 European countries. The study compared more than 560,400 participants age 15 years and older with lymphoid and myeloid cancers diagnosed from 1997 to 2008 and followed the participants up to the end of 2008. According to the study results, the greatest improvements in survival were in northern, central, and eastern Europe; however, survival rates in eastern Europe were the lowest in 1997 and at the end of the study period. In addition, compared with the United Kingdom, the excess risk of death was significantly higher in eastern Europe and significantly lower in northern Europe. The study authors suggest that the availability and use of new treatments across different regions is key to the geographical differences in survival among patients with blood cancers. The diagnoses included in the study were follicular lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, chronic myeloid leukemia, and acute promyelocytic leukemia.