Cancer Registration Statistics, England, 2023

Stage at diagnosis of cancer is an important factor that affects cancer outcomes. Earlier diagnosis, when cancers are diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 as opposed to stage 3 and 4, is associated with better prognosis on average. It is important to note that not all cancers have a staging system; for example, there is no staging system for most brain cancers.

Cancer groups are included in this section of the commentary if they have a valid staging system (as summarised by the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR)), an average of at least 70% of diagnoses with a valid stage in the three most recent diagnosis years for each gender, and none of the three diagnosis years had significantly lower than 70% of diagnoses with a valid stage for each gender. More information on stage at diagnosis is included in the case-mix adjusted percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 collection.

Specific detailed NDRS cancer groups were used in place of main NDRS cancer groups for those main NDRS cancer groups which contained a high proportion of unstageable tumours or heterogenous groups (e.g. Blood cancer and head and neck cancer). Cancer diagnoses without enough information available to assign a stage are said to be ‘missing’. For a complete breakdown of all stages (stage 1, 2, 3, 4, ‘Staged – other early’, ‘Staged – other advanced’, Unstageable, and Missing) and data for all cancer groups (not just those restricted to cancer groups adhering to the rules above) please see Table 1 in the downloadable data tables.

In this publication, stage 1, 2, and ‘Staged – other early’ are considered as stage 1 and 2, whereas stage 3, 4, and ‘Staged – other advanced’ are considered as stage 3 and 4.

Of the 22 cancer groups examined, the percentage of cancers with complete staging data (those with stage 1 to 4, or equivalent speciality staging classifications) in 2023 was lowest for kidney (70% for females and 71% for males) and highest for testes (89% for males).

Figures 4 and 5 show the percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2, and stage 3 and 4, out of all staged cancers diagnoses (diagnoses that are unstageable or have missing stage information are not included in the denominator of the estimates) for males and females, respectively. For males, testicular cancer had the highest percentage of diagnoses at stage 1 and 2 (91%), whilst melanoma had the second highest percentage (87%). For females, melanoma had the highest percentage of diagnoses at stage 1 and 2 (91%), whilst breast cancer had the second highest percentage (85%).

The greatest differences between the genders in the percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 were for:

• Larynx cancer: males had a 11%-point higher percentage than females (51% versus 40%)
• Bladder cancer: males had a 10%-point higher percentage than females (77% versus 68%)
• Breast: females had a 10%-point higher percentage than males (85% versus 75%)

Figure 4: Percentage of staged cancers diagnosed for males by stage at diagnosis (stage 1 & 2 and stage 3 & 4), England, 2023

Figure 5: Percentage of staged cancers diagnosed for females by stage at diagnosis (stage 1 & 2 and stage 3 & 4), England, 2023