IARC 60th Anniversary - 19-21 May 2026
Session : Rapid Fire
Is cancer survival decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic? An analysis of high-income countries in the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership
JACKSON C. 3, SIMON M. 18, KUMAR E. 19, LARØNNINGEN S. 20, LAWLER M. 4,21, MCCLURE C. 22, MURRAY D. 5,23, SOERJOMATARAM I. 1, BRAY F. 1, MEHMOOD A. 19, BECKER Y. 1, MORGAN E. 1, BARDOT A. 1, RUTHERFORD M. 1,2, HAZEM A. 3, BENNET D. 4, BRENNAN A. 5, BUCHER O. 6, BUTLER J. 7,8, CAMERON D. 9, CANFELL K. 10, CHIAM K. 10,11, CHIARELLI A. 12, CREIGHTON N. 13, DE P. 12, EVANS S. 14, FITZPATRICK D. 4, GUREN M. 15, HANNAH J. 16, HUWS D. 17
1 IARC/WHO, Lyon, France; 2 Division of Public Health & Epidemiology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kigdom, Leicester, United Kingdom; 3 Te Aho o Te Kahu, Cancer Control Agency, 133 Molesworth Street, Wellington, New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand; 4 Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Queen's University Belfast, University Street, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom, Belfast, United Kingdom; 5 National Cancer Registry Ireland, Cork Airport Business Park, Kinsale Road, Cork T12 CDF7, Ireland, Cork, Ireland; 6 CancerCare Manitoba, 675 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0V9, Canada, Winnipeg, Canada; 7 Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London SW3 6JJ, England, United Kingdom , London, United Kingdom; 8 Cancer Research United Kingdom, Angel Building, 407 St John Street, London EC1 V 4AD, United Kingdom, London, United Kingdom; 9 Edinburgh University Cancer Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 10 School of Public Health, the University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Sydney, Australia; 11 The Daffodil Centre, PO Box 572, Kings Cross, NSW 1340, Australia, Kings Cross, Australia; 12 Ontario Health, 500 - 525 University Ave, Toronto, ON, Canada, Toronto, Canada; 13 Cancer Institute NSW, 1 Reserve Road, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia, St Leonards, Australia; 14 Cancer Council Victoria, Wurundjeri, Woi Wurrung Country, Level 8, 200 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, 3002, Australia, Melbourne, Australia; 15 Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, Oslo, Norway; 16 Public Health Scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9EB, United Kingdom, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 17 Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Public Health Wales, Tyndall Street, Cardiff CF10 4BZ, United Kingdom, Cardiff, United Kingdom; 18 Danish Cancer Institute, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark; 19 NB Cancer Network, Department of Health, Province of New Brunswick, NB, Canada, Fredericton, Canada; 20 Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Population-based Cancer Research, P.O. Box 5313 Majorstuen, 0304 Oslo, Norway, Oslo, Norway; 21 Johnston Cancer Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK, Belfast, United Kingdom; 22 Health PEI, PO Box 2000, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8, Canada, Charlottetown, Canada; 23 School of Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, Cork, Ireland; 24 Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7, Canada, Toronto, Canada; 25 Department of Health, 189 Royal Street, East Perth WA 6004, Australia, Perth, Australia; 26 Cancer Advanced Analytics, Cancer Control Alberta, 2295 Hospital Drive, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Calgary, Canada; 27 Nova Scotia Health Authority, 90 Lovett Lake Court, Suite 201 Halifax, NS B3S 0H6, Canada, Halifax, Canada; 28 Saskatchewan Cancer Registry, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, 4545 Parliament Avenue, Regina, SK S4W 0G3, Canada, Regina, Canada; 29 Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, 750 Bannatyne Avenue. Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0W2, Canada, Winnipeg, Canada; 30 NHS England, The Leeds Government Hub, 7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds LS1 4AP, United Kingdom, Leeds, United Kingdom; 31 Population Health Sciences, BC Cancer, 600 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4E6, Canada, Vancouver, Canada
Abstract:
Introduction: While cancer survival has improved over decades, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced challenges to cancer care. This study compares 1-year age-standardised net survival among patients diagnosed in 2020 with those diagnosed in 2018 and 2019.
Methods: We obtained population-level data for colon, rectal, lung, breast, and ovarian cancer diagnosed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, with follow-up for vital status to 2021. We included patients aged 15–99 years and estimated 1-year age-standardized net survival (ASNS) using the Pohar Perme estimator with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: Cancer diagnoses showed a minor decline in 2020 compared to previous years. 1-year ASNS remained stable across countries except for significant changes in Australia and the UK. In Australia, lung cancer ASNS increased from 57.2 (95% CI: 55.5–58.9) in 2018 to 62.2 (95% CI: 60.6–63.7) in 2019. Conversely, the UK experienced significant decreases across most cancers during the first year of the pandemic; for example, rectum cancer ASNS dropped from 85.3 (95% CI: 84.7–85.9) in 2019 to 83.0 (95% CI: 82.2–83.7) in 2020. These trends were consistent across age, sex, and stage groups, with men and older patients showing lower survival.
Conclusions: Short-term cancer survival remained stable in most high-income countries during the pandemic, showing health system resilience. The significant drop in the UK might be the result of a big sample size, making little changes quickly significant. However, long-term studies are needed to assess delayed effects on cancer outcomes.