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Population-based survival estimates are a useful measure of the severity of a diagnosis of cancer. Examined across cancer types and regions, survival estimates can be used to establish priority areas for improving prognosis. ¹  Examined over time, and in conjunction with incidence and mortality trends, they represent an important indicator of progress in cancer control. ²  While a population-based survival estimate is a useful general indicator, ³  it does not necessarily reflect a person's chances of surviving for a given time (e.g., five years) after diagnosis. It is based on the experiences of a group of people with a heterogeneous mix of disease characteristics. Likewise, the confidence intervals around survival estimates do not represent the range of possible prognoses for individual patients, but rather statistical variation.

The prognosis of a person diagnosed with cancer may be influenced by host factors (e.g., age, sex, co-morbid conditions, socio-economic status, and lifestyle factors), tumour-related factors (e.g., stage of disease, histological subtype) and system factors related to cancer control (e.g., availability and quality of early detection, diagnostic and treatment services). Stage of disease at diagnosis is a very important prognostic indicator—though now available for some provinces, it is not yet available for Canada at a population level.

Five-year relative survival estimates for an extensive list of cancers are now available for cancer cases diagnosed in Canada (excluding Quebec) from 1992 to 2003 (mortality follow-up until 2008).

Cancer cases are classified according to the International Classification of Disease - Oncology, Third Edition, (ICD-O-3) coding system ⁴  and grouped using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program grouping definitions, with mesothelioma and Kaposi's sarcoma as separate groups. ⁵ 

Publication

The following tables are available in HTML and PDF format for 56 cancers:

1. (*-1) Five-year relative survival ratios, by age group and sex, 1 and 3 years of cases, Canada (excluding Quebec)
2. (*-2) Age-standardized five-year relative survival ratios, by sex, population aged 15 to 99, 3 years of cases, Canada and selected provinces
3. (*-3) Five-year relative survival ratios, by sex, population aged 15 to 99, 3 years of cases, selected provinces

Data based on:

1. 1 year of cases (annual data), 1992 to 2003
2. 3 years of cases, 1992/1994, 1993/1995, 1994/1996, ..., 2001/2003

CANSIM data

The CANSIM tables also provide the number of cases on which analyses were based, the number of deaths within the first five years of follow-up, as well as estimates of observed survival and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Survival estimates based on cases from individual years are available through CANSIM tables.

Free access to the 1992 to 2003 data is provided through a special CANSIM interface. The CANSIM tables can be linked directly from three different locations in the HTML product:

Tables section:

1. Related CANSIM tables
2. Individual tables, in the Source

Related products section:

1. Selected CANSIM tables from Statistics Canada