Information about cancer incidence, mortality and survival is one of the pillars for disease monitoring. In Brazil, only a few studies show population-based survival. The mortality to incidence ratio (M:I) is an indirect measure of cancer survival and can be used to estimate a population cancer survival. To calculate the mortality to incidence ratios (M:I), an official information for incidence and mortality rates in Brazil during 2002 to 2014 was used. A complement to the age-adjusted cancer mortality to incidence ratios [1-(M:I)] as a 5-year survival estimate for all cancers, excluding non-melanoma skin, breast, lung, prostate, cervical, colo-rectal and stomach cancers were calculated. The median survival estimate for all tumors was 52% for males and 56% for females. The lowest survival estimates, in both sexes, can be observed in North and Northeast regions for lung and stomach cancer. For colo-rectal cancer, the survival estimates were similar for both sexes, varying between 50 and 65%. Prostate and breast cancer had the highest survival estimates (79 and 74%, respectively). The survival estimate for cervical cancer in Brazil was 64%. Despite the limitation, the study showed that the methodology can be a simple predictor for calculating 5-year survival rates.

Background: An indirect measure of cancer survival is an application of the mortality and incidence ratio (M:I). In populations with deficits in population survival studies, such as Brazil, using a methodological alternative is a strategy to estimate population survival. Aim: To calculate the cancer survival in Brazilian population using the mortality to incidence ratio. Methods: The complement of the ratio of adjusted incidence rates and cancer mortality rates [1 − (M:I)] was used as an estimate of relative 5-year survival for female breast, lung, prostate, cervix and stomach. As information about the incidence was extracted through 22 PBCR and the mortality information with the atlas of mortality online. Was calculated the medians of the M:I ratios for regions and Brazil, by sex. Results: The median survival estimate for estimated breast cancer was 74%. The southeast region had the highest median (79%) while the north region had the lowest (68%). For lung cancer, the medians were 13% and 16% (male and female, respectively). Prostate cancer has a median survival estimate of 79% and cervical cancer 64%. Stomach cancer also presented the lowest median survival estimates for both sexes. Conclusion: Survival estimates based on M:I ratio could be an alternative in the absence of population survival studies. However, it does not replace the study of survival with active search, it only allows to know the order of magnitude of the survivors in the absence of these studies. This methodology allows to know an estimate of the relative survival in 5 years of cancer since works of population with active search are scarce in Brazil.