Cancer survivorship research in Europe and the United States: where have we been, where are we going, and what can we learn from each other?

Abstract

The growing number of cancer survivors worldwide has led to of the emergence of diverse survivorship movements in the United States and Europe. Understanding the evolution of cancer survivorship within the context of different political and health care systems is important for identifying the future steps that need to be taken and collaborations needed to promote research among and enhance the care of those living after cancer. The authors first review the history of survivorship internationally and important related events in both the United States and Europe. Lessons learned from survivorship research are then broadly discussed, followed by examination of the infrastructure needed to sustain and advance this work, including platforms for research, assessment tools, and vehicles for the dissemination of findings. Future perspectives concern the identification of collaborative opportunities for investigators in Europe and the United States to accelerate the pace of survivorship science going forward.

Figure 1. Timeline of important events in the evolution of the field of cancer survivorship

* Denotes international events relevant to both the U.S. and Europe

Figure 1. Timeline of important events in the evolution of the field of cancer survivorship

* Denotes international events relevant to both the U.S. and Europe

Figure 2. 5-year relative survival of all malignancies diagnosed 2000–2002, stratified by sex

Data source: Verdecchia A, Francisci S, Brenner H, et al. Recent cancer survival in Europe: a 2000–02 period analysis of EUROCARE-4 data. Lancet Oncol. 2007;8: 784–796. SEER= Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Relative survival was calculated as the ratio of absolute survival of patients with cancer to the expected survival of a group of people of the corresponding sex and age in the general population. Registry quality and coverage varied by country; see Verdecchia et al. (2007) for data quality metrics.

Figure 3. Citations related to cancer survivorship science

Based on search in SciVerse Scopus database (http://www.scopus.com/home.url), the largest abstract and citation database which covers 17,500 peer-reviewed journals (http://www.info.sciverse.com/scopus). Citations include articles, review articles, conference papers, letters, notes, editorials, and short surveys from 1971 through 2011. The search for cancer + survivor* includes all citations with cancer and surivor, survivors, survivor’s, survivors’, or survivorship in the title or abstract, while the search for cancer + survivorship includes only citations that specifically use the word ‘survivorship.’ Europe was defined by the 27 countries in the European Union (E

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