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A cure is the end of a medical condition. The term may refer specifically to a substance or procedure that ends the medical condition, such as a medication, a surgical operation, a change in lifestyle, or even a philosophical mindset that helps a person suffer. It may also refer to the state of being healed, or cured.

The proportion of people with a disease that are cured by a given treatment, called the cure fraction or cure rate, is determined by comparing disease-free survival of treated people against a matched control group that never had the disease.[1] If everyone treated for a disease is cured, then they will all remain disease-free and live as long as any person that never had the disease.


Statistical model Edit

In complex diseases, such as cancer, researchers rely on statistical comparisons of disease-free survival (DFS) of patients against matched, healthy control groups. This logically rigorous approach essentially equates indefinite remission with cure.[4] The comparison is usually made through the Kaplan-Meier estimator approach.[5]




Cure rate curves can be determined through an analysis of the data.[5] The analysis allows the statistician to determine the proportion of people that are permanently cured by a given treatment, and also how long after treatment it is necessary to wait before declaring an asymptomatic individual to be cured.

Several cure rate models exist, such as the expectation-maximization algorithm and Markov chain Monte Carlo model.[5] It is possible to use cure rate models to compare the efficacy of different treatments.[5] Generally, the survival curves are adjusted for the effects of normal aging on mortality, especially when diseases of older people are being studied.[6]


Similar concepts Edit

Remission Edit




See also Edit


References Edit

  1. Fuller, Arlan F.; Griffiths, C. M. (1983). Gynecologic oncology, The Hague: M. Nijhoff.
  2. includeonly>"Nearing a Cancer Cure?", Harvard Health Commentaries., 21 August 2006.
  3. What's the Difference Between a Treatment and a Cure?
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Barnes E (December 2007). Between remission and cure: patients, practitioners and the transformation of leukaemia in the late twentieth century. Chronic Illn 3 (4): 253–64.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Friis, Robert H.; Chernick, Michael L. (2003). Introductory biostatistics for the health sciences: modern applications including bootstrap, 348–349, New York: Wiley-Interscience.
  6. Tobias, Jeffrey M.; Souhami, Robert L. (2003). Cancer and its management, 11, Oxford: Blackwell Science.
  7. What is a Cure? page 3.

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