Cancer Death Rates Fall By 10% In 10 Years

Cancer is the second biggest killer after heart disease in India, with 3.5 lakh people succumbing to the disease every year, a research body said on Thursday.

“This makes it crucial to focus on new and more effective cancer treatments in addition to the prevention and diagnostics aspects, thus bolstering the momentum of clinical research in our country”.

A breakdown of the sexes shows men’s death rates have fallen by 12% over the period, while the drop among women is 8%.

This compares with a fall of more than seven per cent for women – from 259 per 100,000 in 2003 to 240 in 2013.

Around 162,000 people died from cancer in the United Kingdom in 2012, up from just over 155,000 in 2002, but a very similar figure to 1992.

Four cancers – lung, bowel, breast and prostate – cause nearly half (46%) of all cancer deaths in the UK.

Cancer death rates in Scotland have fallen 9% over the last 10 years, according to the latest analysis from Cancer Research UK.

Amid a rising and ageing population, the number of people diagnosed with cancer and the total number of deaths from the disease has increased.

The combined death rate for these four fell 11% in the past decade.

MORE people in Wales are being diagnosed with cancer but the number of people living longer is on the up, a new report has found.

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK chief executive, said: “If the NHS doesn’t act and invest now, we will face a crisis in the future – with outcomes from cancer going backwards”. Despite this, one in two Australians will have developed cancer and one in five will have died from cancer before the age of 85.

One in three people diagnosed with lung cancer have been lifelong-non-smokers with 20% of all women diagnosed never touching a cigarette.

The common assumption is that after a person has quit for so many years, the lung cancer rate would be so low that it wouldn’t be noticeable.

“We’re increasing our efforts into key areas of research, such as how to achieve earlier diagnosis”. It’s important to celebrate how much things have improved, but also to renew our commitment to saving the lives of more cancer patients. “Together we can all do something to reduce the impact of this devastating disease”.