Cancer statistics information
27 04 2009
By collecting, organizing and interpreting numerical data and analyzing a sample and relating it to a population, it is possible to come to certain conclusions about cancer. These information or data are known as Cancer statistics. Cancer statistics are useful when predicting a cancer patient’s prognosis. A prognosis allows a cancer patient to know the probable outcome of their cancer condition. This is usually discussed with the patient’s doctor and the patient will know whether they have a probability of fully recovering or whether there is a chance for the cancer to recur.
Certain external factors also affect the prognosis; such as: the age of the patient, general health condition and the patient’s response to the given treatment. The cancer statistics available to the doctors are carefully considered before a doctor discusses a patient’s prognosis, because these cancer statistics are collected by researches on various cancer patients over years.
When the doctor discusses a patient’s prognosis, they carefully consider the cancer statistics available to them thanks to the researchers who’ve collected information over years on various cancer patients. The doctors carefully analyze the cancer statistics, and uses cancer statistics that are of a group of people most similar to the patient – especially regarding the factors that affect the prognosis. If there is a male patient of the age 44, who was a heavy drinker, when basing this particular patient’s prognosis, the doctor will take into consideration, for example, the cancer statistics that are available of cancer patients in the age group of 40 – 50, who are males and who were heavy drinkers.
The commonly used cancer statistics include: survival rate (this is the percentage of cancer patients with a certain type of cancer that had spread to a certain extent, who have survived for a certain period of time after they were diagnosed as cancer patients), the five year survival rate (this is the percentage of people who after five years from their initial diagnosis are still alive whether they have no symptoms of cancer, have few symptoms of cancer or are free of cancer completely or having treatment) and Recurrence-free survival rate (this shows how long a person who once had cancer will survive, free of the disease, rather than until death).
Other countries such as the United Kingdom also publish their own Cancer statistics reports, usually free for the public. In addition to doctors, University students studying – for instance Oncology and various other research groups regard these cancer statistics-as an important resource; hence the availability of these reports to the public for free is extremely gratifying- as it is another step of increasing public awareness of cancer.
