CANCER - Nearly half of cancer patients say disease is a death sentence despite advances in treatment

Nearly half of cancer patients say disease is a death sentence despite advances in treatment

• - Twice as many British than US cancer patients believe they will die
• - More than two in five say a cancer diagnosis is a ‘death sentence’
• 
  

By JENNY HOPE

PUBLISHED: 03:06 GMT, 24 August 2013 | UPDATED: 13:16 GMT, 24 August 2013

Nearly half of cancer patients believe they will die of the disease despite advances in treatment, a poll reveals

Nearly half of cancer patients believe they will die of the disease despite advances in treatment, a poll reveals.

More than two in five Britons say a cancer diagnosis is a ‘death sentence’ – double the proportion of those surveyed in the US.

In reality, 56 per cent of women and 46 per cent of men are still alive five years after being diagnosed. Survival rates for different types of the disease range from 8 per cent for lung cancer to 85 per cent for breast cancer and 98 per cent for testicular cancer.

These figures have improved dramatically since the 1970s, up between 33 per cent and 50 per cent for some common types.

Patients and carers here are also pessimistic about other aspects  of cancer care, with three-quarters saying it takes too long for new medicines to be available.

A report last year by the Office for Health Economics showed on average it takes two-and-a-half years for the NHS ‘rationing’ body to decide whether the Health Service should fund a new drug.

The survey, conducted in six countries, found almost half of those questioned in the UK believe not enough is being spent on cancer research. More than two thirds said ‘current challenges’ facing the UK economy could stifle innovative work on the disease in future.

The study, by cancer care campaign Lilly PACE in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US involved 4,000 cancer patients, carers and members of the general population, including 700 Britons.

Results showed that three out of four Britons are satisfied with recent progress in fighting cancer, but 42 per cent still feel a diagnosis is a death sentence – compared to only 21 per cent of Americans.

Steve Hindle, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘It’s important that we bust this myth … Thanks to advances in the way we diagnose and treat cancer, more people than ever are surviving their illness.’