Prostate cancer survival statistics

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

We have created a central resources hub for Health Professionals which hosts all of our CRUK resources and further materials to help with managing the pandemic. We are updating the information as guidance changes. There is also a page specifically for patients on our about cancer hub.

Health Professional COVID-19 and Cancer Hub

Survival

Survive prostate cancer for 10 or more years, 2013-2017, England and Wales

Age

Age that prostate cancer survival is highest, 2009-2013, England

 

Improvement

Prostate cancer survival in the UK has tripled in the last 40 years

 

96.6% of males survive prostate cancer for at least one year, this falls to 86.6% surviving for five years or more, as shown by age-standardised net survival for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer during 2013-2017 in England.[1]

Prostate Cancer Age-Standardised One-, Five- and Ten-Year Net Survival, Adults (Aged 15-99), England, 2013-2017

The bar chart shows one- and five-year net survival and predicted ten-year net survival, with 95% confidence intervals. Open a glossary item
 

Prostate cancer survival continues to fall beyond five years after diagnosis. 77.6% of males are predicted to survive their disease for ten years or more, as shown by age-standardised net survival for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer during 2013-2017 in England.[1]

See also

Cancer survival statistics for common cancers in the UK

References

  1. Office for National Statistics, Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019.

About this data

Data is for England, 2013 - 2017, ICD-10 C61.

Survival statistics give an overall picture of survival and the survival time experienced by an individual patient may be much higher or lower, depending on specific patient and tumour characteristics.

Last reviewed:

Five-year survival for prostate cancer shows an unusual pattern with age: survival gradually increases from 91% in men aged 15-49 and peaks at 94% in 60-69 year olds; survival falls thereafter, reaching its lowest point of 66% in 80-99 year olds patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in England during 2009-2013.[1] The higher survival in men in their sixties is likely to be associated with higher rates of PSA testing in this age group.

Prostate Cancer (C61), Five-Year Net Survival by Age, Men, England, 2009-2013

See also

Prostate cancer incidence statistics by age

Prostate cancer mortality statistics by age

Cancer survival statistics by age for all cancers in the UK

References

  1. Office for National Statistics. Cancer survival in England: adults diagnosed in 2009 to 2013, followed up to 2014. Newport: ONS; 2015.

About this data

Data is for: England, 2009-2013, ICD-10 C61

Last reviewed:

As with most cancers, survival for prostate cancer is improving. However, interpretation of prostate cancer survival trends is difficult as the case-mix on which they are based is likely to have changed over time with earlier diagnoses following the advent of TURP and PSA testing. The detection of a greater proportion of latent, earlier, slow-growing tumours in more recent time periods will have the effect of raising survival rates due to lead-time bias (that is, the difference in time between screen detection and clinical detection in the absence of screening).[1] Lead-time bias for prostate cancer is estimated to be between five and 12 years, varying with a man's age at screening.[2,3] Data from the European Randomized Study of Prostate Cancer estimates that for a single screening test, mean lead times are 12 years at age 55 and six years at age 75.[3] Some of the increase may also be attributed to genuine improvements in survival due to more effective treatment, for both early, aggressive prostate cancers and advanced cases.[4]

One-year age-standardised Open a glossary item net survival for prostate cancer has increased from 66% during 1971-1972 to 94% during 2010-2011 in England and Wales – an absolute survival difference Open a glossary item of 28 percentage points.[5]

Prostate Cancer (C61), Age-Standardised One-Year Net Survival, Men (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

Survival at five years is strongly associated with the amount of PSA testing in the population, though improvements in treatment are likely to have had some impact.[4] Five-year age-standardised net survival for prostate cancer has increased from 37% during 1971-1972 to a predicted survival of 85% during 2010-2011 in England and Wales – an absolute survival difference of 48 percentage points.[5]

Prostate Cancer (C61), Age-Standardised Five-Year Net Survival, Men (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

Ten-year survival has increased by an even greater amount than one- and five-year survival since the early 1970s. This is again generally attributable to PSA testing, as well as the success of treatment.[4] Ten-year age-standardised net survival for prostate cancer has increased from 25% during 1971-1972 to a predicted survival of 84% during 2010-2011 in England and Wales – an absolute survival difference of 59 percentage points.[5] Overall, more than 8 in 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer today are predicted to survive their disease for at least ten years.

Prostate Cancer (C61), Age-Standardised Ten-Year Net Survival, Men (Aged 15-99), England and Wales, 1971-2011

See also

Prostate cancer incidence trends over time

Prostate cancer mortality trends over time

Cancer survival statistics for common cancers in the UK

References

  1. Parker C, Muston D, Melia J, et al. A model of the natural history of screen-detected prostate cancer, and the effect of radical treatment on overall survival. Br J Cancer 2006;94(10):1361-8. 
  2. Pashayan N, Powles J, Brown C, et al. Excess cases of prostate cancer and estimated overdiagnosis associated with PSA testing in East Anglia. Br J Cancer 2006;95(3):401-5. 
  3. Draisma G, Boer R, Otto SJ, et al. Lead times and overdetection due to prostate-specific antigen screening: estimates from the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 2003;95(12):868-78. 
  4. Kvåle R, Auvinen A, Adami HO, et al. Interpreting Trends in Prostate Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the Five Nordic Countries. J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99(24):1881-87.
  5. 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 C61

Last reviewed:

Survival for prostate cancer is strongly related to stage of the disease at diagnosis.

One-year net survival by stage

One-year net survival for prostate cancer is highest for patients diagnosed at Stage 1, Stage 2, and lowest for those diagnosed at Stage 4, as 2013-2017 data for England show.[1] 100% of patients diagnosed at Stage 1, Stage 2 survived their disease for at least one year, compared to 88% of patients diagnosed at Stage 4.[1]

One year net survival for unknown or missing stage is 94%, while one year survival for unstageable cancer is 42%. Lack of staging information may in some cases reflect advanced stage at diagnosis as very unwell patients may not undergo staging tests if the invasiveness of the testing outweighs the potential benefit of obtaining stage information. Incomplete staging assessment may also be associated with socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patient [2]. Stage completeness for prostate cancer was 88% in 2013-2017 [1].

Net survival can be greater than 100% because it accounts for background mortality. Net survival greater than 100% indicates that patients in this group have a better chance of surviving one year after diagnosis compared with the general population.

Prostate cancer one-year net survival by stage, with incidence by stage (all data: adults diagnosed 2013-2017, followed up to 2018)

Five-year net survival by stage

Five-year net survival decreases from Stage 3 (96%) to Stage 4 (49%), a difference of 47 percentage points. [1]

Prostate cancer five-year net survival by stage, with incidence by stage (all data: adults diagnosed 2013-2017, followed up to 2018)

References

  1.  Office for National Statistics, Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019.
  2. Girolamo, C. et al, Characteristics of patients with missing information on stage: a population-based study of patients diagnosed with a colon, lung or breast cancer in England in 2013, BMC Cancer (2018) 18:492

About this data

Data is for: England, 2013 - 2017, ICD-10 C61.

Survival statistics give an overall picture of survival but the survival time experienced by an individual patient may be much higher or lower, depending on specific patient and tumour characteristics.

Last reviewed:

Five-year relative survival for prostate cancer in men in England (80%) is below the average for Europe (83%). Wales (78%), Scotland (79%) are also below the European average but Northern Ireland (83%) is similar to the European average.[1] Across the European countries for which data is available, five-year relative survival in men ranges from 51% (Bulgaria) to 90% (Austria).[1]

Prostate Cancer (C61.9), Age-Standardised Five-Year Relative Survival, Men (Aged 15+), European Countries, 2000-2007

Data consists of both observed and predicted 5-year relative survival. Where sufficient follow-up was not available for recently diagnosed patients the period approach was used to predict 5-year cohort survival.

Possible explanations for persistent international differences in survival include differences in cancer biology, use of diagnostic tests and screening, stage at diagnosis, access to high-quality care, and data collection practices.[1]

See also

Cancer diagnosis and treatment

Prostate cancer incidence

References

  1. De Angelis R, Sant M, Coleman MP, et al. Cancer survival in Europe 1999-2007 by country and age: results of EUROCARE-5, a population-based study. Lancet Oncol 2014;15:23-34

About this data

Data is for: 29 European countries, patients diagnosed in 2000-2007 and followed up to 2008, prostate cancer [ICD-O-3] (C61.9).

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.

Cancer stats explained

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

Join the conversation and follow @CRUKHCPs for news, updates and opinion.

 @CRUKHCPs

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.