BREATHING IN A NEW ERA
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LUNG CANCER POLICIES ACROSS EUROPEIntroduction
The deadliest cancer
Cancer causes one in six deaths. One in five of these cancer deaths is due to lung cancer, in spite of
it being a largely preventable disease.^1 Survival rates are not only low but also vary significantly: in
Western countries, five-year survival rates average 15%.^2 These poor outcomes stem from a number of
factors including late diagnosis, poor access to treatment, and a mixture of stigma and fatalism. Today
in Europe, mortality from lung cancer is equal to the mortality from breast, colon and prostate cancer
combined (Figure 1).
The global incidence of lung cancer is increasing: in 2018, there were 2 million new cases of lung
cancer, an increase from 1.8 million new cases in 2012.^1 Lung cancer is more common in men, among
whom the highest incidence rates are in Central
and Eastern Europe, along with Eastern Asia. In
women, lung cancer is the third most commonly
occurring cancer, and the highest rates are
in Northern Europe, Eastern Asia and North
America.^1 Survival is largely dependent on the
stage at which lung cancer is diagnosed: the
earlier the diagnosis, the better the prognosis.
The burden of a disease can be measured by
comparing disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
A DALY can be thought of as one lost year of
Colon cancerSource Globocan, 2018.Figure 1: Top 4 causes of cancer mortality
(%)All other
cancers Prostate cancerLung cancerBreast cancer20.
59.
7.
7.
5.
Source: Global Burden of Disease, 2017.
Figure 2: DALYs among top 5 cancers in Europe
(rate per 100,000)
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Lung cancer Colorectal cancer Breast cancer Pancreatic cancer Prostate cancer