Cancer survival in Brazil: Estimate through the mortality to incidence ratio

Abstract

Information about cancer incidence, mortality and survival is one of the pillars for disease monitoring. In Brazil, only a few studies show population-based survival. The mortality to incidence ratio (M:I) is an indirect measure of cancer survival and can be used to estimate a population cancer survival. To calculate the mortality to incidence ratios (M:I), an official information for incidence and mortality rates in Brazil during 2002 to 2014 was used. A complement to the age-adjusted cancer mortality to incidence ratios [1-(M:I)] as a 5-year survival estimate for all cancers, excluding non-melanoma skin, breast, lung, prostate, cervical, colo-rectal and stomach cancers were calculated. The median survival estimate for all tumors was 52% for males and 56% for females. The lowest survival estimates, in both sexes, can be observed in North and Northeast regions for lung and stomach cancer. For colo-rectal cancer, the survival estimates were similar for both sexes, varying between 50 and 65%. Prostate and breast cancer had the highest survival estimates (79 and 74%, respectively). The survival estimate for cervical cancer in Brazil was 64%. Despite the limitation, the study showed that the methodology can be a simple predictor for calculating 5-year survival rates.