Trends in UK cancer mortality statistics
This page presents cancer mortality statistics on the mortality trends for all cancers combined, and the top four cancers: lung cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Mortality statistics for all cancers combined
Overall, mortality from cancer is decreasing despite increasing incidence.In the 30 year period between 1976 and 2005, the age standardised mortality rates for all malignant neoplasm’s fell by 17% from 218 to 180 per 100,000 population Figure 3.1 shows the mortality rate trend for all cancers combined.1-3
Male mortality was consistently higher than female mortality but decreased more quickly, by 24% compared to 12% (Figure 3.2).
Over the past 10 years (1996-2005) the age-standardised mortality rates for all malignant neoplasms fell by 12% - around 15% for men and 10% for women. The rate started to fall in 1990 and since then it has fallen by 18%.
Mortality rates for the majority of cancer types have decreased in the past 10 years. The largest falls in mortality have been for stomach and cervical cancer.
The mortality rate has increased for cancers of the liver and uterus, for malignant melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (Figure 3.3).
Lung cancer
The age-standardised mortality rate for lung cancer has halved from 107 deaths per 100,000 men in 1971 to 53 deaths per 100,000 males in 2005. This reflects the fall in tobacco consumption in the male population since the causal link between lung cancer and tobacco smoking was established in the mid-twentieth century.
There are now more female deaths from lung cancer than from any other cancer, including breast cancer.Lung cancer mortality rates for females have increased from 18 per 100,000 in 1971 to 30 per 100,000 women in 2005, thus the male:female ratio has decreased from approximately 6:1 to 7:4 over this period (Figure 3.4).
There has been little change in the female lung cancer mortality rate since the late 1980s. Since then the rate has been around 30 deaths per 100,000 women.
The lung cancer mortality rate for women in their sixties has fallen by more than 20% in the last 15 years. However, since 1986 girls have had consistently higher rates of smoking than boys and in 2005 25% of 15-year old girls were regular smokers compared to 16% of boys. This may have an impact on future female lung cancer mortality rates.
Bowel cancer
Bowel(colorectal) cancer caused over 16,000 deaths in the UK in 2005: the ratio of colon cancer to rectal cancer is 7:4.
Colorectal cancer mortality rates are substantially higher in men than in women – 23 per 100,000 males compared with 14 per 100,000 females in 2005. 70% of deaths from large bowel cancer occur in people aged 70 and over.
Mortality rates from colorectal cancer are falling in the UK despite increasing incidence. Between 1996 and 2005, the male age-standardised rate fell by 17% and the female rate by 20% (Figure 3.5).
Over a longer period, the female mortality rate has fallen more than the male rate. Bowel cancer mortality rates started to decrease in 1988 and since then the male rate has fallen by more than a quarter (27%) and the female rate by more than a third (35%).
Breast cancer
UK mortality rates for breast cancer have been falling since the late 1980s (Figure 3.5), which is likely to be due to a combination of factors including earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment.
Between 1996 and 2005 the number of female breast cancer deaths fell from 13,705 to 12,417 and the age-standardised mortality rate fell by nearly a fifth (18%), despite large increases in incidence.
More than half of all deaths (54%) from breast cancer are in women aged over 70 years. Breast cancer also causes around 90 deaths in men in the UK each year.
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer caused 10,000 deaths in 2005. More than 85% of these deaths were in men over 70 years old. The age-standardised mortality rate for prostate cancer peaked at 30 per 100,000 males in the early 1990s and has now fallen by 16% to 25. (Figure 3.5). Mortality rates for prostate cancer remain at around 27 deaths per 100,000 population.
References
- Office for National Statistics, Mortality Statistics:Cause England & Wales, 2005. Vol. DH2 No.32. 2006: TSO.
- GRO for Scotland Registrar General's Annual Report, 2006.
- Northern Ireland Cancer Registry Cancer Mortality in Northern Ireland, 2005 2006
A - Z index
Contact us
Donate now
Glossary
Print this page
