Cancer Survival Statistics

There are several measures of cancer survival, depending on the question one wants to answer. Relative survival is an estimate of the percentage of patients who would be expected to survive the effects of their cancer. It excludes the risk of dying from other causes. Observed survival is the actual percentage of patients still alive at some specified time after diagnosis of cancer. It considers deaths from all causes, cancer or otherwise, and is sometimes called all-cause survival. Overview of Population-based Cancer Survival Statistics describes the methodologies involved in calculating cancer survival statistics.

Reports and Monographs

Cancer Stat Facts are a collection of statistical summaries for a number of common cancer types. They were developed to provide a quick overview of frequently-requested cancer statistics.

Numerous methods and measures of cancer survival for cancer registry data have been developed, but not all are well known or in common use. Cancer Survival From a Policy and Clinical Perspective: US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, 1975-2010 introduces these cancer registry survival measures to a broad audience. To make the measures more accessible, the authors minimize technical language, provide explanations, suggest when to use the measures, and describe caveats for their interpretation.

Interactive Tools for Accessing Precalculated Survival Statistics

SEER*Explorer is an interactive website that provides easy access to a wide range of SEER cancer statistics. It provides detailed statistics for a cancer site by sex, race, calendar year, age, and for a selected number of cancer sites, by stage and histology.

National Childhood Cancer Registry Explorer provides incidence and survival statistics for cancers in children and adolescent and young adults ages 0-39, using data from the National Childhood Cancer Registry (NCCR).

Oral Cancer Survival Calculator provides survival estimates based on characteristics of a person's cancer and overall health. It puts equal focus on the chance of dying of cancer and other causes.

Cancer Query Systems: SEER Survival Statistics is a Web-based program that allows you to select pre-defined statistics by defining various parameters.

Last Updated: 10 Jul, 2023