Researchers have found that a person who has lung cancer in Norway or Sweden is much more likely to survive than a person in Britain.

Lung cancer survival in England, Norway and Sweden from 2001 to 2004 using data from lung cancer registries in all three countries was analyzed by researchers at King's College, London.

Published in the journal Thorax, the study found lung cancer survival rates were lowest in England and highest in Sweden, almost twice as many Swedish lung cancer patients survived after 5 years as did the English patients, irrespective of age, sex and length of monitoring period.

Specifically, 11.3 percent of Swedish men diagnosed with lung cancer survived 5 years, while 9.3 percent of Norwegian men and 6.5 percent of English men survived 5 years. In women, 16 percent diagnosed with lung cancer survived five years, while 13.5 percent of those diagnosed in Norway and 8.4 percent of those diagnosed in England survived 5 years.

The survival rates may differ because the prevalence of smoking is higher in Britain than in Scandinavia and British patients may delay seeking medical help and when they do, patients in Britain are less likely to be treated with surgery and drugs than those in Sweden or Norway, the researchers have said. (With Inputs from Agencies)