OBJECTIVES: We analyze survival in thyroid cancer from Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), Norway (NO), and Sweden (SE) over a 50-year period (1971-2020), and additionally consider concomitant changes in incidence and mortality. DESIGN: Population-based survival study. METHODS: Relative 1-, 5/1 (conditional)-, and 5-year survival data were obtained from the NORDCAN database for years 1971-2020. Incidence and mortality rates were also assessed. RESULTS: A novel consistent observation was that 1-year survival was worse than 5/1-year survival but the difference between these decreased with time. Relative 1-year survival in thyroid cancer (mean for the 4 countries) reached 92.7% for men and 95.6% for women; 5-year survival reached 88.0% for men and 93.7% for women. Survival increased most for DK which started at a low level and reached the best survival at the end. Male and female incidence rates for thyroid cancer increased 3- and 4-fold, respectively. In the same time, mortality halved for men and for women, it decreased by 2/3. CONCLUSIONS: We documented worse relative survival in the first year than in the 4 subsequent years, most likely because of rare anaplastic cancer. Overall survival in thyroid cancer patients increased in the Nordic countries in the course of 50 years; 5-year survival was close to 90% for men and close to 95% for women. Even though overdiagnosis may explain some of 5-year survival increase, it is unlikely to influence the substantial increase in 1-year survival. The unmet need is to increase 1-year survival by diagnosing and treating aggressive tumors before metastatic spread.

Biomedical Center Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague Alej Svobody 76 30605 Pilsen Czech Republic

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

Comprehensive Cancer Center Helsinki University Hospital Helsinki Finland

Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Department of Surgery University Hospital Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague 30605 Pilsen Czech Republic

Department of Urology Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

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

Division of Pediatric Neurooncology German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg Germany

Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg Germany

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

References provided by Crossref.org

Survival in Thyroid Cancer in Sweden From 1999 To 2018