News

8 December 2020

New prostate cancer atlas presents data on incidence, mortality, survival, care and quality of life

There are significant variations in access to specialist prostate cancer care across Europe, with some countries having five times more urologists available than others, a new presentation of data reveals.

The new digital atlas of prostate cancer, produced by the Let’s Talk Prostate Cancer (LTPC) coalition, provides data about prostate cancer incidence, mortality, survival, care and quality of life across European countries.

The information presented includes statistics on access to specialists, the cost of cancer and cancer medicines spend. It shows that in some countries such as Ireland and the UK there is a particularly low number of urologists, with one urologist per 69,000 inhabitants in the UK compared to one per 14,000 inhabitants in Germany.

Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, Czechia, Italy, Spain and Greece all have rates under 25,000, while Ireland has the worst ratio at 174,000 people per urologist.

Meanwhile the per capita cancer medicines spend in Austria is 25 times the spend in Estonia and Greece.

The Let’s Talk Prostate Cancer (LTPC) Digital Atlas aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people with advanced prostate cancer in Europe. It has been put together by an expert group including representatives from Europa Uomo, the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), the European Association of Urology (EAU), and the European Association of Urology Nurses (EAUN).

The LTPC project is a campaign organised and funded by the drug company Astellas Pharma Europe.

You can access the atlas at https://www.letstalkprostatecancer.com/index.php