SURVIVAL rates from lung cancer in Scotland are among the worst in Europe, according to a new report which highlights a postcode lottery in mortality rates.
The report by the UK Lung Cancer Coalition reveals that Scotland ranks 27th out of 29 European countries for its five-year survival rate from lung cancer, with just nine per cent of patients likely to be alive five years on from a diagnosis.
Only Wales and Bulgaria performed worse, while Austria topped the table with the chances of long-term survival almost twice the rate in Scotland.
The pan-European data refers to 1999 to 2007.
Scotland is now the only UK nation where lung cancer is the most common form of the disease
The authors also highlighted significant regional differences in death rates.
In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the death rate is more than double that of NHS Orkney, at 72 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 30.
Dr Marianne Nicolson, consultant medical oncologist, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, said: "In recent years, the Scottish Government has taken positive steps to tackle the burden of lung cancer. However, despite this activity, outcomes for lung cancer patients in Scotland remain poor compared to the rest of Europe."
The report urges the health service in Scotland to commit to a timeframe for publishing health board by health board statistics.
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was taking "a range of measures" to tackle lung cancer.
He added: "However, there is still more to do to tackle lung cancer and we look forward to continuing to work with the UK Lung Cancer Coalition to improve outcomes for patients with this devastating disease.
"More lives can be saved in Scotland if cancer is detected early."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article