Cancer Patient Survival: What Progress Has Been Made

摘要

The report responds to a request by the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources of the House Committee on Government Operations that GAO determine whether progress was made in extending cancer patient survival from 1950 to 1982. In order to answer this general question, the report addresses 5 specific questions: (1) How accurate are the survival rates published by the National Cancer Institute (NCI); (2) What do survival rates actually measure (That is, how meaningful are survival rates); (3) What measurement problems limit our ability to interpret changes in survival rates over time; (4) Did survival rates improve from 1950 to 1982 for specific types of cancer; (5) Where improvements in survival rates occurred, what factors can best account for them.