Trends in net survival from corpus uteri cancer in six European Latin countries: Results from the SUDCAN population-based study

Corpus uteri cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in women in Europe, but presents a relatively good prognosis. There were two main objectives in this study: estimate differences between countries in agestandardized net survival (NS) at 1 and 5 years in 2000-2004 and evaluate time trends in NS and excess mortality rates in 1992-2004. Data on corpus uteri malignant tumours (International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third ed.: C54) were extracted from the EUROCARE database for six European Latin countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. NS was estimated for each country using the nonparametric estimator proposed by Pohar-Perme. Trends in NS and excess mortality rates up to 5 years after diagnosis were assessed using a multivariable parametric flexible modelling. The study analysed 25 508 cases for the first objective and 43 550 for the second. Age-standardized 1-year NS ranged from 88% (Portugal and Spain) to 93% (Switzerland), whereas 5-year survival ranged between 72% (Portugal) and 79% (Belgium and Switzerland). From 1992 to 2004, the NS increased in all countries with available information on this period (France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland). Also, in Belgium and Portugal, there was an increase in NS between 2000 and 2004. Improvements in survival were more evident for older ages (75 years). There were some differences in NS between the countries studied (maximum of 5% at 1 year and 7% at 5 years). The NS improved in all countries during the period studied and the differences between countries narrowed.