Abstract
We have studied the alterations in the use of curative treatment and the outcome for lung cancer patients in Norway 2001–2016. The Cancer Registry of Norway has a practically complete registration of all cancer diagnoses, treatments given and deaths. For the years 2001–2016, 43,137 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer. Stereotactic radiotherapy was established nationwide from 2008 and its use has increased, and in 2016, 8.8% were given this treatment. In addition 20.6% were operated and 8.5% were treated with conventional radiotherapy. Thus 37.9% of those diagnosed were treated with intention to cure, compared to 22.9% in 2001 (p < 0.0001). Further, the median survival for the whole group diagnosed with lung cancer increased from 6.0 (95% CI 5.6–6.7) months in 2001 to 11.8 (95% CI 10.9–12.7) in 2016. The 5 year survival increased from 9.4 (95% CI 8.1–10.8)% to 19.9 (95% CI 19.2–20.6)% in the same period. In 2016 the age adjusted incidence rate was 59.5 per 100,000 (Norwegian standard) and had increased significantly in both sexes. There had also been an increase in mean age at diagnosis and the proportion diagnosed in an early stage. The increase in curative treatment has been paralleled with a doubling in both the median and 5-year survival. The present results are used for surveillance and as a benchmark, and we are looking forward to reaching a proportion of 40% of patients given curative treatment.
References
Strand TE, Bartnes K, Rostad H. National trends in lung cancer surgery. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2012;42(2):355–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejcts/ezs002.
Allemani C, Matsuda T, Di Carlo V, et al. Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000-14 (CONCORD-3): analysis of individual records for 37 513 025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries. Lancet. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(17)33326-3.
Brustugun OT, Grønberg BH, Fjellbirkeland L, et al. Substantial nation-wide improvement in lung cancer relative survival in Norway from 2000 to 2016. Lung Cancer. 2018;122:138–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lungcan.2018.06.003.
Larsen IK, Smastuen M, Johannesen TB, et al. Data quality at the Cancer Registry of Norway: an overview of comparability, completeness, validity and timeliness. Eur J Cancer. 2009;45(7):1218–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2008.10.037.
Cochran WG. The chi square test of goodness of fit. Ann Math Stat. 1952;23(3):315–45.
The Cancer Registry of Norway. Cancer in Norway, 2017. Technical supplement: statistical methods. Oslo, Norway. 2018. https://www.kreftregisteret.no/globalassets/cancer-in-norway/2017/cin-2017supmeth.pdf.
StataCorp. 2017. Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. College Station, TX; StataCorp LLC2017.
Statistics-Norway. Daily smokers. Statistics Norway, Oslo, Norway. https://www.ssb.no/en/helse/statistikker/royk. Accessed 10 May 2018.
Norwegian Association for Cariothoracic Surgery. Thoracic surgery in Norway. 2016. http://legeforeningen.no/Fagmed/Norsk-thoraxkirurgisk-forening/thoraxkirurgiregisteret/.
Bugge AS, Lund MB, Valberg M, Brustugun OT, Solberg S, Kongerud J. Cause-specific death after surgical resection for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2018;53(1):221–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejcts/ezx274.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
PMH has declared that he has received salary and paid travel for giving lecture at Surgical Skills course arranged by Johnson & Johnson. The other authors have declared no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Solberg, S., Nilssen, Y., Brustugun, O.T. et al. Increase in curative treatment and survival of lung cancer in Norway 2001–2016. Eur J Epidemiol 34, 951–955 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00536-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00536-z