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WQ.143/2018
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY C.S. ALVES OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 11th SEPTEMBER 2018
Question
Will the Minister state –
- how many diagnoses of mesothelioma there have been in the last 10 years; and
- what the average life expectancy is of those who have been diagnosed in Jersey?
Answer
- The States of Jersey does not maintain a central disease register for non-notifiable diseases and is therefore unable to provide the total number of cases of mesothelioma diagnosed in Jersey in the last 10 years.
We are able to provide the number of patients who have been admitted as an inpatient (for any reason, related or not) who had a diagnosis of mesothelioma coded.
Health and Community Services code acute inpatient diagnoses. The table below shows the total number of unique patients (by year) with mesothelioma who had an inpatient episode.
It is important to note that these episodes may not have been directly related to mesothelioma. For example, if a patient with mesothelioma was admitted for an orthopaedic trauma, they would be counted in the table below.
There were a total of 32 unique patients with a diagnosis of mesothelioma who had an inpatient episode within the timeframe below. The same patients could appear in different years.
| 2011 (from June) | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Number of unique patients | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 11 |
Data are available from June 2011 which was when the hospital patient administration system (TrakCare) was implemented. Data are reported up to the end of 2017 as there are respiratory episodes still to be coded from 2018.
- There are no local statistics available for mesothelioma survival or life expectancy because there are not enough cases locally to calculate survival data accurately. However, it is unlikely that the survival/ life expectancy of Jersey patients will be greatly different from patients elsewhere. Information from both the UK and America shows that:
• the average mesothelioma life expectancy ranges from 12 to 21 months from the date of diagnosis
• survival rates are higher in those diagnosed under 50 years old and lowest in those aged 75 years and over when diagnosed
• women have better survival rates than men
• survival rates for peritoneal mesothelioma (tumour originating in the abdominal lining) patients is more than five times higher than the rate for pleural (tumour originating in the lung lining) patients.
Survival rates are affected by the age and sex of the patient, the type of mesothelioma and the stage at diagnosis and can change as both new and standard mesothelioma treatments are developed.
Useful references:
Mesothelioma life expectancy – Mesothelioma Group https://www.mesotheliomagroup.com/mesothelioma/prognosis/life-expectancy/
Mesothelioma statistics – Cancer Research UK https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer- type/mesothelioma
Changing Pattern in Malignant Mesothelioma Survival Study – National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)