Bladder cancer - survival statistics for England and Wales

This page presents statistics on bladder cancer survival including information on stage and one, five and ten year survival rates, and rates by age at diagnosis.

Bladder cancer survival:

 

Tumour stage

The most important prognostic factor is the depth of tumour penetration into the bladder wall: T staging of bladder cancer is shown in Figure 3.1. 1,2

Figure 3.1: T Staging of bladder cancer

Tumours not invading beyond the lamina propria (T1) are classified as superficial. Other prognostic factors include multiple tumour foci, grade and tumour type. Patients with superficial tumours have an excellent prognosis with five-year survival rates between 80-90%. Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer have five-year survival rates of less than 50%. Radical treatment deals effectively with locally invasive disease but many patients die from metastatic disease. Early detection while the tumour is still superficial is therefore very important.

 

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One-year survival

One-year relative survival rates for bladder cancer are shown in Figure 3.2. 3-7   Since the early 1970s, one-year relative survival rates have risen from 66-77% for men and 59-66% for women.

Figure 3.2: Age-standardised five-year survival for male and female bladder cancer patients diagnosed in England and Wales, 1971-2001

 

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Five-year survival

Five-year relative survival rates rose from 44-57% for men and 42-47% for women. An unusual feature of these survival rates is that men have consistently higher survival rates than women (among common cancers in England and Wales only two cancers, larynx and bladder, have significantly higher male than female survival rates) . This male survival advantage for bladder cancer is seen in many countries. 8 Men seem to be diagnosed at a slightly earlier stage than women but this does not explain all their survival advantage, as stage-specific survival is also higher in men than women 9,10

Figure 3.3: Five-year relative survival for male and female patients diagnosed with bladder cancer in England and Wales, 1996-1999, by age at diagnosis

It is possible that differences in survival over time, between sexes and ages, have been influenced by changes in defining malignant bladder tumours.

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Ten-year survival

Figure 3.4 shows the ten year survival rates for bladder cancer patients.

cs_bla_f3.4

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Survival by age

It has been suggested that the different anatomy of male and female bladders may account for some of the variation in survival between the sexes. 10 However, survival for both men and women decreases strongly with age ( Figure 3.5).

cs_bla_f3.5

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References for bladder cancer survival

  1.  Wells P, H.R., Horwich A., Chapter 28. Bladder, in Treatment of Cancer 4th edition, S.K. Price P, Editor. 2002.
  2.  Sobin, K.L., Wittekind, C., and (eds), TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours (6th edn). 2002, New York: Wiley-Liss.
  3.  Coleman, M., P. Babb, and P. Damiecki, Cancer Survival Trends in England and Wales, 1971-1995: Deprivation and NHS Region. Vol. 1999: TSO.
  4.  Rachet, B., et al., Population-based cancer survival trends in England and Wales up to 2007:an assessment of the NHS cancer plan for England The Lancet Oncology (2009). Standardised figures were provided by the author on request.
  5.  Office for National Statistics (ONS), Survival Rates in England, patients diagnosed 2001-2006 followed up to 2007
  6.  Richard, MA., Trends and inequalities in survival for 20 cancers in England and Wales 1986-2001: population-based analyses and clinical commentaries. Foreword. Br Journal Cancer, 2008, Vol. 99, Supplement 1, September
  7.  Rachet, B., et al., Population-based cancer survival trends in England and Wales up to 2007:an assessment of the NHS cancer plan for England The Lancet Oncology (2009).
  8.  Sant, M., et al. EUROCARE-3: survival of cancer patients diagnosed 1990-94-results and commentary. 2003 Accessed 14 Suppl 5
  9.   Ries LAG, H., Krapch M et al (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2003. Accessed 2006
  10.   Mungan, N.A., et al., Gender differences in stage-adjusted bladder cancer survival. Urology, 2000. 55(6): p. 876-80.