Survival

Last Updated:

February 2018

Introduction

Advances in the ways that cancer is diagnosed and treated have increased the number of people who live disease-free for long periods of time. This report looks at trends in 5-year survival rates for cancer, the time period traditionally associated with good prognosis. However, some people will experience a recurrence of their cancer after 5 years.

Measure

Five-year relative cancer survival: The proportion of patients surviving cancer 5 years after diagnosis calculated in the absence of other causes of death. This percentage is the proportion of observed survivors in a cohort of cancer patients to the proportion of expected survivors.

Five-year cause specific survival: The proportion of patients surviving a specified cause of cancer death 5 years after diagnosis. Deaths from other causes are not considered cause-specific deaths.

While relative survival is the typical SEER measure, five-year cause specific survival is used to show survival rates by race/ethnicity since expected rates are not available for several of the race/ethnicity groups.

Healthy People 2020 Target

Increase the proportion of cancer survivors who are living 5 years or longer after diagnosis to 71.7 percent.

Healthy People 2020 is a set of goals set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Note: Goals are indicated as blue line on Detailed Trend Graphs.

Data Source

SEER Program, National Cancer Institute, 1975–2009 with follow-up through 2014.

Trends and Most Recent Estimates

All Cancer Sites Combined

By Sex

5-year relative survival for all cancer sites combined by sex, 1975-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	Both Sexes	69.3	69.0 - 69.7
	Male	69.6	69.1 - 70.0
	Female	69.1	68.6 - 69.5

By Race/Ethnicity

5-year cause-specific survival for all cancer sites combined by race/ethnicity, 1992-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	All Races	69.2	69.0 - 69.4
	White	69.9	69.6 - 70.1
	Black	64.3	63.5 - 65.1
	Hispanic	68.3	67.6 - 69.0
	Asian/Pacific Islander	66.2	65.4 - 67.0
	American Indian/Alaska Native	61.6	58.5 - 64.5

Top Cancer Sites

Comparison of Top Cancer Sites

5-year relative survival for the most common cancers, 1975-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	Colon and Rectum	66.4	65.2 - 67.5
	Lung and Bronchus	19.6	18.8 - 20.3
	Female Breast	91.3	90.6 - 91.9
	Prostate	99.3	98.8 - 99.6

Colon and Rectum Cancer by Sex

5-year relative survival for colon and rectum cancer by sex, 1975-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	Both Sexes	66.4	65.2 - 67.5
	Male	66.6	65.0 - 68.1
	Female	66.2	64.5 - 67.8

Colon and Rectum Cancer by Race/Ethnicity

5-year cause-specific survival for colon and rectum cancer by race/ethnicity, 1992-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	All Races	66.3	65.5 - 67.1
	White	66.4	65.4 - 67.3
	Black	61.4	58.9 - 63.8
	Hispanic	65.7	63.2 - 68.0
	Asian/Pacific Islander	68.3	66.0 - 70.5
	American Indian/Alaska Native	64.6	55.8 - 72.1

Lung and Bronchus Cancer by Sex

5-year relative survival for lung and bronchus cancer by sex, 1975-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	Both Sexes	19.6	18.8 - 20.3
	Male	16.5	15.5 - 17.5
	Female	22.9	21.8 - 24.1

Lung and Bronchus Cancer by Race/Ethnicity

5-year cause-specific survival for lung and bronchus cancer by race/ethnicity, 1992-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	All Races	20.9	20.3 - 21.6
	White	21.2	20.4 - 22.0
	Black	19.8	17.9 - 21.8
	Hispanic	18.8	16.4 - 21.3
	Asian/Pacific Islander	20.0	17.9 - 22.1
	American Indian/Alaska Native	19.4	12.1 - 28.0

Female Breast Cancer by Race/Ethnicity

5-year cause-specific survival for female breast cancer by race/ethnicity, 1992-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	All Races	89.1	88.7 - 89.5
	White	89.7	89.3 - 90.2
	Black	81.6	80.0 - 83.2
	Hispanic	87.8	86.4 - 89.1
	Asian/Pacific Islander	91.9	90.7 - 92.9
	American Indian/Alaska Native	83.8	76.8 - 88.8

Prostate Cancer by Race/Ethnicity

5-year cause-specific survival for prostate cancer by race/ethnicity, 1992-2009
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Most Recent Estimates (2009)
Overview Graph	Detailed Trend Graphs	Percent surviving	95% Confidence Interval
	All Races	94.4	94.1 - 94.7
	White	94.6	94.2 - 94.9
	Black	93.4	92.5 - 94.2
	Hispanic	92.9	91.8 - 93.9
	Asian/Pacific Islander	94.2	92.9 - 95.2
	American Indian/Alaska Native	88.4	80.4 - 93.2

Additional Information on Survival

For the public

Survivorship. National Cancer Institute..

Year Range

1975-2009

Recent Summary Trend Year Range

2005-2009

Summary Tables

Survival, Smoking, Obesity, Physical Activity

Recent Summary Trend

Rising

Desired Direction