Cancer Registration Statistics, England, 2022

Stage at diagnosis of cancer is an important factor that affects cancer outcomes. Earlier diagnosis, when cancers are diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 as opposed to stage 3 and 4, is associated with better prognosis on average. It is important to note that not all cancers have a staging system; for example, there is no staging system for most brain cancers.

Cancer groups are included in this commentary if they have a valid staging system (as summarised by the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR)), an average of at least 70% of diagnoses with a valid stage in the three most recent diagnosis years for each gender, and none of the three diagnosis years had significantly lower than 70% of diagnoses with a valid stage for each gender. More information on stage at diagnosis is included in the case-mix adjusted percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 collection.

Specific detailed cancer groups were used in place of main cancer groups for those main cancer groups which contained a high proportion of unstageable tumours or heterogenous groups (e.g. Blood cancer and head and neck cancer). Cancer diagnoses without enough information available to assign a stage are said to be ‘missing’. For a complete breakdown of all stages (stage 1 and 2, stage 3 and 4, Unstageable and Missing) and data for all cancer groups (not just those restricted to cancer groups adhering to the rules above) please see Table 2 in the downloadable data tables.

Of the 22 cancer groups examined, the percentage of cancer with complete staging data (those with stage 1 to 4, or equivalent speciality staging classifications, see Data Quality and methodology section) in 2022 was lowest for mantle cell lymphoma (70% for males and 69% for females) and highest for cancers of the oropharynx (90% for both males and females).

Figures 7 and 8 show the percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2, and stage 3 and 4, out of all staged cancers diagnoses (diagnoses that are unstageable or have missing stage information are not included in the denominator of the estimates) for males and females, respectively. For males, testicular cancer had the highest percentage of diagnoses at stage 1 and 2 (90%), whilst melanoma had the second highest percentage (87%). For females, melanoma had the highest percentage of diagnoses at stage 1 and 2 (91%), whilst breast cancer had the second highest percentage (85%).

The greatest differences between the genders in the percentage of cancers diagnosed at stage 1 and 2 were for:

• Bladder cancer: males had a 11%-point higher percentage than females (77% versus 65%)
• Larynx cancer: males had a 10%-point higher percentage than females (52% versus 42%)
• Hodgkin lymphoma: females had a 7%-point higher percentage than males (50% versus 42%)

Figure 7: Percentage of staged cancers diagnosed for males by stage at diagnosis (stage 1 & 2 and stage 3 & 4), England, 2022

Figure 8: Percentage of staged cancers diagnosed for females by stage at diagnosis (stage 1 & 2 and stage 3 & 4), England, 2022