UK Pancreatic Cancer mortality statistics

This section on pancreatic cancer contains information by age and sex, geographic variation and trends in mortality.

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, causing more than 7,700 deaths in 2007.

It is possible for mortality to exceed incidence for cancer sites such as the pancreas due to the very poor survival rates. Mortality follows incidence very closely so a drop in incidence may leave mortality rates higher as proportions of patients diagnosed in previous years also contribute to the mortality data.

Pancreatic cancer mortality

 
 

Pancreatic cancer mortality by age and sex

The numbers of deaths and mortality rates for pancreatic cancer in the UK ( Table 2.11-,3) closely reflect the numbers of people being diagnosed.

Table 2.1: Number of deaths and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer, UK

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Patterns by age and sex ( Figure 2.11-,3) are therefore very similar to those described for incidence.

Figure 2.1: Numbers of deaths and age-specific mortality rates, pancreatic cancer, by sex, UK

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Geographic variation in pancreatic cancer mortality

Mortality rates in the European Union (EU) are consistently higher for males than females. Central and Eastern European countries have the highest mortality rates and Portugal and Cyprus have the lowest ( Figure 2.24).

Figure 2.2: European age-standardised mortality rates, pancreatic cancer, by sex, EU, 2002

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The UK ranks 21st in the EU for pancreatic cancer mortality and has a lower than average mortality rate for both males and females.

Worldwide there were an estimated 232,306 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2002, accounting for 2% of all new cancer cases. Figure 2.3 shows that the more developed countries have higher mortality rates for both men and women compared with the less developed countries4.

Figure 2.3: World age-standardised mortality rates, pancreatic cancer, by sex, selected countries, 2002

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Rates also vary by ethnic group, with the highest rates in the black population in the United States, where the annual incidence is about 12 per 100,000 population 5.

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Trends in pancreatic cancer mortality

There has been little improvement in survival over the last few decades, which has remained exceptionally low. Therefore the mortality trend has matched the gradual decline seen in the incidence rates very closely. The fall in mortality rates is largely due to falling male rates, with a decrease of 20% over the last 30 years. Female rates have remained fairly stable over the same period, while rates in persons have fallen by 8%. ( Figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4: European age-standardised mortality trends over time, pancreatic cancer, by sex, UK

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References for pancreatic cancer mortality

  1.  Office for National Statistics Mortality Statistics: Cause. England and Wales 2007 Accessed 2009
  2.  Scottish Health Statistics 2007 ISD Scotland Accessed 2009
  3.  Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Cancer Mortality in Northern Ireland, 2007 Accessed 2009
  4.  IARC. GLOBOCAN 2002. Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide (2002 estimates).  
  5.  Adami, H.O., D. Hunter, and D. Trichopoulos. Textbook of Cancer Epidemiology Vol. 2002, Oxford University Press: New York.