Japan Releases 5-Yr Cancer Survival Rates for 2017, 2018 Patients

Tokyo, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japan's health ministry released on Friday the five-year survival rates of people newly diagnosed with cancer across the country in 2017 and 2018, showing that prostate cancer patients had the highest rates among those aged 15 or over.

The survival rate for prostate cancer patients diagnosed in 2017 came to 92.2 pct, while that for 2018 stood at 92.5 pct.

Meanwhile, pancreatic cancer patients had the lowest survival rates, at 12.6 pct for those diagnosed in 2017 and 13.5 pct for those in 2018.

The cancer registration promotion law, which took effect in 2016, mandates all hospitals, as well as clinics designated by prefectural governments, to submit information on cancer patients to the central government.

The ministry published survival rates based on the law for the first time last month, releasing five-year survival data for patients diagnosed in 2016.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]