Lung cancer survival statistics

Trend over time

Change in lung cancer 10-year survival between the 1970s and 2010s, UK

 

One-year age-standardised Open a glossary itemnet survival for lung cancer in men has increased from 16% during 1971-1972 to 30% during 2010-2011 in England and Wales – an absolute survival difference Open a glossary item of 14 percentage points.[1] In women, one-year survival has increased from 15% to 35% over the same time period (a difference of 20 percentage points).

Lung Cancer (C33-C34), Age-Standardised One-Year Net Survival, Adults (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

Unlike the majority of cancers, five- and ten-year survival for lung cancer has not shown much improvement since the early 1970s. Five-year age-standardised net survival for lung cancer in men has increased from 5% during 1971-1972 to a predicted survival of 8% during 2010-2011 in England and Wales – an absolute survival difference of 4 percentage points.[1] In women, five-year survival has increased from 4% to 12% over the same time period (a difference of 7 percentage points).

Lung Cancer (C33-C34), Age-Standardised Five-Year Net Survival, Adults (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

Five-year survival for 2010-2011 is predicted using an excess hazard statistical model

Ten-year age-standardised net survival for lung cancer in men has shown no significant increase between 1971-1972 and 2010-2011 in England and Wales.[1] In women, ten-year survival has increased from 3% to 7% over the same time period (a difference of 4 percentage points). Overall, 5% of people diagnosed with lung cancer today are predicted to survive their disease for at least ten years.

Lung Cancer (C33-C34), Age-Standardised Ten-Year Net Survival, (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

Ten-year survival for 2005-2006 and 2010-2011 is predicted using an excess hazard statistical model

References

  1. Data were provided by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on request, 2014.

About this data

Data is for: England and Wales, 1971-2011, ICD-10 C33-C34

Last reviewed:

Cancer stats explained

See information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.

Citation

You are welcome to reuse this Cancer Research UK content for your own work.
Credit us as authors by referencing Cancer Research UK as the primary source. Suggested styles are:

Web content: Cancer Research UK, full URL of the page, Accessed [month] [year].
Publications: Cancer Research UK ([year of publication]), Name of publication, Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when reused unaltered): Credit: Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when recreated with differences): Based on a graphic created by Cancer Research UK.

When Cancer Research UK material is used for commercial reasons, we encourage a donation to our life-saving research.
Send a cheque payable to Cancer Research UK to: Cancer Research UK, 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ or

Donate online

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many organisations across the UK which collect, analyse, and share the data which we use, and to the patients and public who consent for their data to be used. Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics.