5-yr survival rate for cancer patients in S. Korea reaches 72.9 pc: Report

The five-year relative survival rate for cancer patients, reflecting their likelihood of living compared with the general population, stood at 72.9 per cent, South Korea's health ministry said Thursday.

The latest findings from the 2018-2022 period represent a significant increase from 54.2 per cent recorded during the 2001–2005 period, suggesting cancer patients tend to live longer, likely due to more people undergoing medical examinations, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Yonhap news agency reported.

The survival rate for thyroid cancer reached 100.1 per cent, meaning its patients showed a tendency to live longer than the general population.

Prostate cancer followed with 96.4 per cent, trailed by breast cancer at 94.3 per cent. The survival rate for lung cancer stood at 40.6 per cent, while that for liver cancer was 39.4 per cent, the data showed.

The data also showed the country reported 282,047 new cancer patients in 2022, down 0.05 per cent from a year earlier.

The report revealed 37.7 per cent of South Korean males were likely to develop cancer during their lifetime if they lived up to the average life expectancy of 79.9 years.

Similarly, 34.8 per cent of females were estimated to face the same risk if they reached their average life expectancy of 85.6 years.

The country had 287 cancer patients per every 100,000 people, below the 367 posted by the United States. It was higher, however, than Japan's 267.1 and China's 201.6.

Meanwhile, data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in September this year, showed that the number of cancer surgeries decreased significantly in the first five months after a junior doctors' strike began in February.