2016 Cancer system performance report

July 12, 2016

Read about screening for distress, clinical trial participation, smoking rates, HPV vaccination rates and more

The 2016 report is the Partnership’s seventh report that looks at the cancer system’s performance across Canada. This report presents indicators that measure performance, and shows patterns and trends for making improvements.

This report includes updated findings for 17 indicators, as well as an overview of key findings for indicators which are updated less often. Indicators are organized in relation to prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and the person-centred perspective.

The report also highlights three topics of interest:

• Smoking behaviours in cancer patients
• Patient outcomes based on regionalized, high-risk, resource-intensive surgeries
• Patient survival by income for select cancers

Quick facts from this 2016 report

• Since 2007, there has been more than a threefold increase in provinces using standardized tools for distress screening. Screening for distress can help identify cancer patients’ psychological, social, spiritual, practical or physical concerns.
• Participation in clinical trials increased in five of eight from 2013 to 2014. The trials are essential for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of emerging cancer treatments.
• Fewer people are dying of cancer. Death rates have been decreasing since the early 1990s for most of the cancers profiled in this report, including breast, lung (in men), colorectal, prostate and pancreatic.
• Though the smoking rate continued to decline, from 23 per cent in 2003 to 18 per cent in 2014, the rate across all and territories remains higher than the national target of 12 per cent.
• Because colorectal cancer screening is relatively new in Canada, testing rates are low across the country.
• Collecting consistent, comparable data on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination remains a challenge. Existing data indicate that HPV vaccinations vary considerably across the country.
• The percentage of mastectomies done as day surgeries has increased in most provinces. However, there was still a 38-point difference between the provinces with the lowest and highest percentages.

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