Kidney and bladder cancers share etiology and relatively good recent survival, but long-term studies are rare. We analyzed survival for these cancers in Denmark, Finland, Norway (NO), and Sweden (SE) over a 50-year period (1971-2020). Relative 1- and 5-year survival data were obtained from the NORDCAN database, and we additionally calculated conditional 5/1-year survival. In 2016-2020, 5-year survivals for male kidney (79.0%) and bladder (81.6%) cancers were best in SE. For female kidney cancer, NO survival reached 80.0%, and for bladder cancer, SE survival reached 76.1%. The magnitude of 5-year survival improvements during the 50-year period in kidney cancer was over 40% units; for bladder cancer, the improvement was over 20% units. Survival in bladder cancer was worse for women than for men, particularly in year 1. In both cancers, deaths in the first year were approximately as many as in the subsequent 4 years. We could document an impressive development for kidney cancer with tripled male and doubled female 5-year survival in 50 years. Additionally, for bladder cancer, a steady improvement was recorded. The current challenges are to curb early mortality and target treatment to reduce long-term mortality.

Biomedical Center Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University 30605 Pilsen Czech Republic

Cancer Gene Therapy Group Translational Immunology Research Program University of Helsinki 00290 Helsinki Finland

Comprehensive Cancer Center Helsinki University Hospital 00290 Helsinki Finland

Department of Urology Helsinki University Hospital 00290 Helsinki Finland

Division of Cancer Epidemiology German Cancer Research Center Im Neuenheimer Feld 580 69120 Heidelberg Germany

Division of Pediatric Neurooncology German Cancer Research Center 69120 Heidelberg Germany

Hopp Children's Cancer Center 69120 Heidelberg Germany

Institute of Pathological Physiology Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University 32300 Pilsen Czech Republic

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