Survival of cancer patients in Poland

Data on survivals that were obtained from population-based cancer registries and representing different subpopulations in Poland, i.e., the City of Warsaw and the Warsaw Rural Areas (WRA), are presented. The overall 5-year relative survival rates calculated for males increased from 23.8% in 1963-1968 to 31.2% in 1978-1981, while no such increase was found among females (43.6 and 43.2%, respectively). The 5-year survivals were divided into three groups: (1) fairly good (40 to 100%); (2) moderate (20 to 39%); and (3) poor (below 20%). The first group also included (apart from cancer of the skin and lip, where the 5-year survival rate was 100%) cancers of the corpus uteri, Hodgkin's disease, lymphatic leukemia, malignant melanoma, testis, larynx, breast, thyroid, cervix, uteri, and prostate. The second group included cancers of the colon, bone, ovary, rectum, urinary bladder, kidney, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and brain. The lowest-survival group included, among other localizations, cancers of the lung, stomach, gall-bladder, pancreas, esophagus, and liver. A comparison between the 5-year survivals in Warsaw City, WRA, and the rates obtained in Finland and the U.S. showed that Polish results are considerably worse than in the other countries.