Survival and Mortality in Prostatic Cancer: A Study Based on the Swedish cancer register

A total of 44 300 cases of prostatic cancer, comprising 99% of all newly diagnosed living cases reported to the Swedish Cancer Registry in 1960 through 1978 constituted a cohort followed up for 1–19 years. Survival rates were adjusted for expected mortality in the general population and were expressed as relative survival (RS). RS for the total cohort after 5, 10 and 20 years was 51, 34 and 17% respectively, with an annual excess death rate of about 8% which persisted also after long-term observation. RS was similar in age groups between 45 and 74 years, whereas among patients older than 74 years at diagnosis approximately 10% lower RS appeared early and was persistent. RS improved for patients diagnosed at consecutive 5-year periods. Thus, the high mortality rate in old age groups and the low long-term RS contradicted the concept that biologically inactive tumours constitute a significant proportion of prostatic cancers diagnosed in clinical practice.