Cancer Deaths Falling in Britain
11/25/2005 United Kingdom staff Life Style Extra (www.lse.co.uk) Cancer deaths in Britain are falling while the number of new cases of the disease is remaining stable, according to new figures released today. Overall, the number of patients aged between 35 and 69 who have been dying has dropped by about 2.4 per cent each year over the past decade, the annual Britain Against Cancer conference at Westminster was told. The number of people dying of bowel cancer has fallen considerably. Rates fell by 22 per cent in men and 26 per cent in women. And mortality from breast cancer fell by a quarter over the past ten years, in spite of an increase in incidence. The statistics published by Cancer Research UK and the UK Association of Cancer Registries (UKACR) also reveal that lung, breast, bowel and prostate cancers will continue to be the most common types by far. However, the number of new cases of lung cancer in women is falling among the age group, suggesting we are approaching the peak of the disease in women. Lung cancer rates are already falling in men. But the incidence of some less common cancers is rising according to the study, the first time such data has been available over a ten year period for the whole of the UK. Professor David Forman, Cancer Research UK researcher at the University of Leeds and chair of the UKACR, and colleagues analysed the latest trends among people aged between 35 and 69. The team [...]