Most early-stage breast cancer patients will be long-term survivors – study

Researchers found that women diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 were 66% less likely to die from the disease within five years compared with those diagnosed in the 1990s. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA

Women diagnosed with early breast cancer are 66% less likely to die from the disease than they were 20 years ago, and most can expect to become “long-term survivors”, according to the largest study of its kind.

Research from the University of Oxford reveals that the risk of death within five years of diagnosis was 14.4% for women diagnosed between 1993 and 1999.