Dear NAACCR colleagues,
As some of you already know, the first article from the VENUSCANCER project was published online today in The Lancet.
The article, "Global variation in patterns of care and time to initial treatment for breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer from 2015 to 2018 (VENUSCANCER): a secondary analysis of individual records for 275 792 women from 103 population-based cancer registries in 39 countries and territories," is open access and may be found here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01383-2/fulltext.
Some highlights from this first global picture of care for women's cancers include:
• Largest-ever analysis of data on stage, treatment, and consistency with international clinical guidelines, from over 275,000 women diagnosed with breast, cervical or ovarian cancer during 2015-2018 in 39 countries.
• For breast and cervical cancer, 40% of women in high-income countries (HIC) had their cancer detected at an early stage, compared with below 20% for women in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
• Ovarian cancer is least likely to be diagnosed early across the world, at less than 20%.
• Three-quarters (78%) of women in HICs and more than half (56%) of women in LMICs were offered surgery, but international clinical guidelines were not followed consistently worldwide.
• For all three cancers, older women were less often offered treatment consistent with clinical guidelines than younger women, both in HICs and LMICs.
• In most LMICs, and again for all three cancers, women experienced longer waits to receive surgery after diagnosis.
Should you have questions about the VENUSCANCER project, please contact Professor Claudia Allemani, VENUSCANCER project PI: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/allemani.claudia.
Many thanks to the North American registries that contributed to this global effort!
BOŻENA M. MORAWSKI, PhD, MPH (she/her/hers)
Epidemiologist & Idaho SEER Co-Principal Investigator
Cancer Data Registry of Idaho
Time-Sensitive Emergency Registry
Idaho Hospital Association
PO Box 1278
Boise, ID 83701
tel: +1 (208) 489-1373 | fax: +1 (208) 338-7800
email: bmorawski@teamiha.org