Survival rates among patients with cancer in Alberta in 1974-78.

We calculated 5-year crude and relative survival rates, by age and sex, for patients in Alberta in whom cancer was diagnosed between 1974 and 1978. Cancers with low overall 5-year relative survival rates (less than 35%) included stomach cancer, cancer of the pancreas, lung cancer, brain cancer, multiple myeloma and myeloid leukemia. Cancers with high overall 5-year relative survival rates (more than 70%) included melanoma, breast cancer, cancer of the uterus, cancer of the bladder and Hodgkin''s disease. Five-year relative survival rates were generally lower in the highest age group (75 years or more). A strong inverse relation between age and survival was noted for brain cancer, non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma, Hodgkin''s disease and myeloid leukemia.