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Cancer survival in Eastern and Western Germany after the fall of the iron curtain

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Abstract

Prior to the German reunification, cancer survival was much lower in East than in West Germany. We compare cancer survival between Eastern and Western Germany in the early twenty-first century, i.e. the second decade after the German reunification. Using data from 11 population-based cancer registries covering a population of 33 million people, 5-year age-standardized relative survival for the time period 2002–2006 was estimated for the 25 most common cancers using model-based period analysis. In 2002–2006, 5-year relative survival was very similar for most cancers, with differences below 3 % units for 20 of 25 cancer sites. Larger, statistically significant survival advantages were seen for oral cavity, oesophagus, and gallbladder cancer and skin melanoma in the West and for leukemia in the East. Our study shows that within two decades after the assimilation of political and health care systems, the former major survival gap of cancer patients in Eastern Germany has been essentially overcome. This result is encouraging as it suggests that, even though economic conditions have remained difficult in Eastern Germany, comparable health care provision may nevertheless enable comparable levels of cancer survival within a relatively short period of time.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe) Grant No. 108257.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), POB 10 19 49, 69009, Heidelberg, Germany

    Lina Jansen, Adam Gondos & Hermann Brenner

  2. Cancer Registry of Bremen, BIPS—Bremen Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Andrea Eberle

  3. Cancer Registry of Rhineland-Palatinate, Institute for Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Katharina Emrich

  4. Saarland Cancer Registry, Saarbrücken, Germany

    Bernd Holleczek

  5. Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany

    Alexander Katalinic

Authors
  1. Lina Jansen
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  2. Adam Gondos
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  3. Andrea Eberle
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  4. Katharina Emrich
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  5. Bernd Holleczek
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  6. Alexander Katalinic
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  7. Hermann Brenner
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Consortia

GEKID Cancer Survival Working Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lina Jansen.

Additional information

Members of the GEKID Cancer Survival Working Group are listed in Appendix A.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Members of the GEKID Cancer Survival Working Group: Karla Geiss, Martin Meyer (Cancer Registry of Bavaria), Andrea Eberle, Sabine Luttmann (Cancer Registry of Bremen), Roland Stabenow (Cancer Registry of Berlin and the New Federal States), Stefan Hentschel, Alice Nennecke (Cancer Registry of Hamburg), Joachim Kieschke, Eunice Sirri (Cancer Registry of Lower Saxony), Bernd Holleczek (Saarland Cancer Registry), Katharina Emrich (Cancer Registry of Rhineland-Palatinate), Hiltraud Kajüter, Volkmar Mattauch (Cancer Registry of North Rhine-Westphalia), Alexander Katalinic (Cancer Registry of Schleswig-Holstein), Klaus Kraywinkel (Robert Koch Institute, Berlin), Hermann Brenner, Adam Gondos, Lina Jansen (German Cancer Research Center).

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Jansen, L., Gondos, A., Eberle, A. et al. Cancer survival in Eastern and Western Germany after the fall of the iron curtain. Eur J Epidemiol 27, 689–693 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9723-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9723-5

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