Breast cancer - UK mortality statistics

In the UK in 2008 there were 12,116 deaths from breast cancer; 12,047 (99%) of these were in women and 69 (1%) were in men 1-3. Breast cancer accounts for around 16% of female deaths from cancer in the UK and was the most common cause of death from cancer in women until 1998; since then there have been more deaths from lung cancer.

The number of deaths from breast cancer and the mortality rates for the constituent countries of the UK are shown in Table 2.11-3.Statistics on breast cancer cases and deaths in the EU and worldwide can be found in the incidence section.

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The number of deaths and age-specific mortality rates for female breast cancer are shown in Figure 2.1.

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In younger women aged 35-54 years, breast cancer is the most common cause of all deaths from cancer.

Breast cancer mortality rates in the UK have fallen dramatically since 1989 when 15,625 women died from the disease compared with 12,047 in 2008. Over the same period the breast cancer age-standardised death rates have fallen by 37% from 42 to 26 per 100,000 women, Figure 2.24.

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The age-standardised mortality rate for female breast cancer in all of the constituent countries of the UK increased until the late 1980s and then rapidly fell. Breast cancer mortality has declined in all age groups since the late 1980s ( Figure 2.3) 1-4.

Between 1989 and 2008 the breast cancer mortality rate fell by 44% in women aged 40-49 years; by 44% in women aged 50-64; by 37% in women aged 65-69; by 39% in women aged 15-39; and by 19% in women over 70.

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The reduction in breast cancer mortality rates is likely to have several different causes including screening, increasing specialisation of care and the widespread adoption of tamoxifen treatment since 1992.