Kidney cancer - UK incidence statistics

Kidney cancer accounts for over 3% of all new cases of cancer diagnosed in men and around 2% of all cancers in women in the UK (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer). 1-4

Even though kidney cancer is a relatively rare cancer, there have been reports of increasing incidence and mortality across the world, including the UK. Some, but not all, of this increase is believed to be due to the wider application of diagnostic imaging techniques resulting in more kidney tumours being found incidentally.5-7

Unless otherwise specified, the definition of kidney cancer used in this section includes cancers of the renal parenchyma (C64), the renal pelvis (C65) and the ureter (C66), plus other and unspecified cancers of the urinary organs (C68 - Figure 1.1).

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Section updated 10/08/2011

In the UK kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in men, with  5,377 new cases diagnosed in 2008. This compares to 3,380 new cases of kidney cancer in women, giving a male:female ratio of over 3:2. In women it is the ninth most common cancer.

The numbers of new cases and rates for kidney cancer in the UK and its constituent countries are shown in Table 1.1. 1-4 Overall, kidney cancers are responsible for almost 3% of all cancers in the UK and it is the eighth most common cancer.It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of developing kidney cancer in 2008 is around 1 in 60 for men and 1 in around 100 for women in the UK. This was done using the AMP method.8

Table 1.1: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), Number of New Cases and European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, UK, 2008

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*95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate

Figure 1.2 shows kidney cancer incidence by age-group. 1-4 Around 90 cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed each year in children, with three-quarters of these occurring in children under five. The most common kidney cancer in childhood is Wilms' tumour. More details on kidney cancer in children can be found in the childhood cancer section.9 From age 40, rates of kidney cancer begin to rise steeply. The highest rates in both sexes are in the over 75s.

Figure 1.2: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), Number of New Cases and Age-Specific Incidence Rates, UK, 2006-2008

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Section updated 10/08/2011

In adults in the UK around 86% of malignant kidney tumours arise in the renal parenchyma, whilst a further 6% arise in the renal pelvis and 6% in the ureter. 9 

Cancers of the renal parenchyma are also known as renal cell carcinomas (RCC). There are five subgroups of RCCs: conventional (clear cell, also called non papillary), which account for 75-80% of RCC tumours; papillary (chromophilic) accounting for 10-15% and chromophobe, collecting duct carcinoma and unclassified renal cell carcinoma which together make up the remainder of RCC tumours. Tumours in the renal pelvis consist mainly of transitional cell carcinomas (TCC). 10

The Tumour, Node, Metastasis (TNM) staging is based on the tumour size, whether the cancer has spread to nearby nodes or whether it has spread more widely around the body, with TNM stage 1 being the least and TNM stage 4 being the most developed. The latest data for the East of England for 2009 show that 33% of kidney cancers are diagnosed when at stage 1, whilst 28% of cases are with distant metastases (stage 4), with around 10% of cases having unknown stage. 11

Section updated 10/08/2011

Within England there is a clear geographical distribution of kidney cancer incidence for both men and women, with higher rates of incidence in the north, and lower incidence in London and the South East, compared with the England average. 12

Figure 1.3 shows the pattern of kidney cancer incidence for men and women, by English government office region.

The north/south divide of kidney cancer incidence follows the geographical pattern of two known risk factors for this disease - smoking and obesity (find out more on kidney cancer risk factors page).

Figure 1.3: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, by Government Office Region, 2006-2008

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The rates for males in the UK are lower than the European Union 27 (EU27) average, while for females the rates are similar, as can be seen in Figure 1.4.13 The most recent estimates of incidence of kidney cancer suggest that there are 73,200 new cases annually in the EU27. In this region, kidney cancer accounts for 3% of all cancer cases. 14 The European and world kidney cancer rates presented in this section do not include C68, so are not directly comparable with the UK and GB rates.

Figure 1.4: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66) European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, EU27 Countries, 2008

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Note: The ICD-10 codes for kidney cancer data for EU countries is C64-C66 only.

Around 273,500 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed in the world each year, accounting for just over 2% of all cancers. 14 The highest rates are recorded in Northern America and the lowest rates in Asian and African regions ( Figure 1.5). 13 (World age-standardised incidence rates are not comparable to the European age-standardised incidence rates presented elsewhere in this section).

Figure 1.5: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66), World Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, By World Regions, 2008

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Note: The ICD-10 codes for kidney cancer data worldwide is C64-C66 only.

Part of the observed geographical variation in kidney cancer incidence may be due to differences in the frequency of use of diagnostic imaging techniques and autopsy rates.10

Section updated 10/08/2011

Increases in kidney cancer incidence have been reported in many different countries around the world. 15 There has been some debate as to how much this is due to the introduction of new imaging methods, such as ultrasound and  computed tomography (CT), which leads to the incidental detection of asymptomatic disease. 5-7

Analysis of US data demonstrated a 73% increase in the use of abdominal or pelvic CT scans or  magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between 1986 and 1994. 16 Kidney cancer incidence trends by tumour stage in the US population between 1975-1995 recorded the greatest increase for localised tumours but also increases in more advanced and unstaged tumours, suggesting that detection of asymptomatic tumours by imaging does not fully explain the increases seen for kidney cancer overall. 16

A similar conclusion, that at least part of the increase in incidence is real and not solely contributable to incidentally-detected tumours, was reached by a British study of incidence and mortality trends from 1978 to 1997 in the Northern and Yorkshire region of England. 17

In Great Britain kidney cancer incidence has risen since the mid-1970s for both men and women ( Figure 1.6). 1-4

Figure 1.6: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Great Britain, 1975-2008

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The incidence rates of kidney cancer in males have doubled  from 7.0 per 100,000 to 14.8 per 100,000 between 1975-1977 and 2006-2008. In women the rates have more than doubled over the same period, rising from 3.2 to 7.5 per 100,000. 

The greatest increase has occurred in older men and women, with rates more than doubling between 1975-1977 and 2006-2008 for men over 65. Rates have more than doubled over the same period in women aged 15 and over, with the greatest increase (around 180%) in women aged 75 and over ( Figure 1.7 and Figure 1.8). 1-4

Figure 1.7: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, by Age, Males, Great Britain, 1975-2008

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Figure 1.8: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, by Age, Females, Great Britain, 1975-2008

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The kidney cancer incidence trend for the UK can be seen in Figure 1.9.

Figure 1.9: Kidney Cancer (C64-C66 and C68), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, UK, 1993-2008

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Section updated 10/08/2011

There is a small but significant difference between the least and most deprived quintiles for kidney cancer, with higher incidence rates in the most deprived group (9.7 per 100,000), compared with 8.3 per 100,000 in the least deprived group. 18 This is likely to be related to the association with smoking.

Section updated 10/08/2011

Prevalence data relate to those people in the UK who were alive on a specific date having previously been diagnosed with cancer. The latest analysis shows that on 31st December 2006, around 26,500 people were alive up to ten years after being diagnosed with kidney cancer19. Table 1.2 shows the one, five and ten year prevalence by sex for kidney cancer.

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Section updated 10/08/2011