Health experts who were studying the mesothelioma patient’s survival rate are usually referring to the five-year survival rate, which is the proportion of patients living five years subsequent to their cancer diagnosis. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, they are usually being informed of the cancer’s typical survival rates. They are also reminded that such statistics might not foresee a specific patient’s length of survival.

As being studied by the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for mesothelioma is more or less 10 percent. Medical reports point out the usual survival time for mesothelioma patients ranges between four to 18 months. Since this kind of cancer is not ordinary, it is complicated to identify survival rates based on the stage of development of the cancer during diagnosis. In most cases, survival rates are increased if the cancer is detected at an early stage of the diagnosis.
According to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Cancer Statistics Review present a more comprehensive observation as they specifically break down survival rates by race, sex and age on diagnosis. The five-year relative survival rate from 1996 to 1998 was 10.5 percent, which went down to 7.7 percent between the years of 1999 to 2005. Taken as a whole, females and African Americans have a propensity to have an improved survival rate. A patient’s age at diagnosis also has a great impact on the survival rate. The younger the patient is diagnosed the greater chances of survival.

It is important to emphasize that these statistics are drawn from patients treated several years ago and developments in mesothelioma treatment possibly will increase survival rates for those now being diagnosed with the cancer. Understanding the average mesothelioma survival rate is complex because a variety of aspects influence the information. These varieties of factors affecting mesothelioma survival rates include the following:

- Present health condition of the patient 
- Age at diagnosis
- Scope of visible symptoms
- Stage of cancer development at diagnosis
- Size of the tumor
- Whether the tumor has spread or can be surgically removed
- Type of mesothelioma cancer cells whether sarcomatoid, epithelial or biphasic.
- Whether the patient is a smoker

Recent mesothelioma statistics show that the disease affects men more commonly than women, perhaps because men are more likely to be exposed to asbestos in the workplace. Mesothelioma is also more frequent among people between the ages of 50 and 70, which is likely due to the disease’s long latency period. On the other hand, an increase in the number of cases reported in people between the ages of 30 and 40 seems to signify a rise in secondary exposure. Based on mesothelioma statistics, between 43,000 and 230,000 people nationwide have died from asbestos-related cancer. Mesothelioma is indeed a deadly, frightening cancer diagnosed in more than 2,000 new cases each year in the United States alone.