Stage-specific survival of epithelial cancers in North-Holland/Flevoland, The Netherlands

While stage is the most important factor for determining cancer survival, population-based survival data according to stage are rarely presented. We present such data for a large population diagnosed with cancer in the area covered by the Amsterdam Cancer Registry for the period 1989–2001 (n = 108,251). Cases were grouped according to the TNM-classification. For all sites, a close correlation between stage at diagnosis and survival was observed. The stage-specific 5-year relative survival rate (RSR) ranged from close to 100% for stage I carcinoma of the salivary glands, thyroid, colon/rectum, skin, breast, female genitals, prostate and urethra to ⩽1% for stage IV carcinoma of the oesophagus, stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and lung. Between 1989–1991 and 1999–2001, we observed an increase in the stage-specific RSR for carcinoma of colon/rectum (stages II–IV), lung (stages I–II), breast (stages I–III) and prostate (stages II–IV). Changes in diagnostic (breast, prostate) and staging procedures (lung), surgery (rectum, prostate) and adjuvant treatment (breast, colon) are likely to have contributed to this increase.