Will America cancer survival rates drop to equal those of Europe?

Well, here’s an interesting fact: in the case of prostate cancer, most men with tumours will die of other causes before their cancer has had time to spread. In the US they are classified as cancer survivors, in the UK they are usually not.

This is why more than 80 per cent of men with prostate cancer are classified as being cured in the US but the "comparable" figure is just 40 per cent in the UK. Things aren’t always as straightforward as they seem…

The way that statistics are gathered therefore accounts for the greater ‘survival rates’ of prostate cancer in the US

The US, Australia, Canada, France and Japan have the highest five-year cancer survival rates – one European country, and two others with universal health care.