Cancer Survival Rate Rises in S. Korea: Data

(image: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — The survival rate of South Korean cancer patients topped 70 percent in 2016, sharply up from a decade ago, government data showed Thursday.

The rate of people being diagnosed with cancer and living more than five years came to 70.6 percent between 2012 and 2016, up from 54 percent tallied for the 2001-2005 period, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The five-year survival rate for thyroid cancer reached 100.2 percent, with numbers for prostate and breast cancer reaching 93.9 percent and 92.7 percent during the cited period, respectively, the latest findings showed.

The cancer survival rate hovering above 100 percent does not mean that not a single thyroid cancer patient has died, officials said. The number means the survival rate of a cancer patient is higher compared to an average standard population with the same age and sex.

The findings showed the survival rate for liver and lung cancer stood at 34.3 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively, although both were up compared to the previous period.

By gender, thyroid cancer was the most common cancer among women in 2016, followed by breast cancer, colorectal cancer and stomach cancer, the data showed.

Among men, stomach cancer was most common in 2016, followed by colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and thyroid cancer, the data showed.

The number of new cancer cases per 100,000 people, meanwhile, came to 286.8 in 2016, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier, the findings showed.

After being adjusted to the world standard population, 269 out of every 100,000 South Koreans had cancer in 2016. This is less than the average of 300.3 among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the ministry said.

The ministry attributed the rising survival rate to improved treatment, coupled with more people receiving regular medical checkups that allow more people to be diagnosed with cancer at an early stage.

(Yonhap)