CONCORD Study - US and Canada have top rates of Cancer Survival

In the August 2008 issue of Lancet Oncology, Micheal Coleman et al, are reporting that the US and Canada have the best survival rates for Cancer. Canada has a cumulative 5-year survival of 82.5% compared to the US's 91.9%.

There is a lot of debate about the merits of various health care systems (public and private) but a 10% difference in survival is nothing to sneeze at. Canada showed less variation regionally and between races but the difference in overall survival is still stark. It would seem that cancer survival parallels the general impression of universal health care. Less variation at the expense of better outcomes. The data was from 1990-1994. It will be interesting to see if Canada can raise the bar to the level set by the US under universal coverage.

Here is a link to a Canadian news outlets' report on the abstract.