Cancer Survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2016 to 2020, followed up to 2021

In England, 1-year non-standardised net survival has improved, with patients diagnosed between 2016 and 2020 having a higher 1-year survival than patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2011. This trend was seen for all cancers and both genders except for bladder cancer.  

The largest improvement was 1.6 percentage points on average per year for lung cancer in females. There was a small reduction in 1-year bladder cancer survival in both males (-0.4 percentage points) and females (-0.3 percentage points). This continues the observed decreasing trend noted in the previous publication. 

A possible reason for this decrease is that, during some of the periods under observation, there have been worldwide shortages of the therapeutic treatment Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)  used to treat higher risk bladder cancer patients diagnosed at an early stage. About 1 in 5 of all bladder cancer patients may benefit from the use of this treatment. This may explain the contrast between the decreasing trend for 1-year bladder cancer survival and improvements in cancer sites other than bladder. 

5-year non-standardised net survival has also improved, with patients diagnosed between 2016 and 2020 having a higher 5-year survival than patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2011. This trend was seen for all cancers and both genders except for bladder, colon,  and bowel cancers (males, females and person). The largest increase was for lung cancer in females (1.6 percentage points on average per year).