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Has a better lifestyle reduced cancer death rates?

Edmund Stubbs, 4 February 2016

Although more people are being diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year, due to an increasing and ageing population, the overall death rate from cancer is reducing. Such is the upbeat conclusion to be drawn from figures published by Cancer Research UK today, to mark world cancer day.

In short, cancer is becoming less lethal, with a declining death rate of around 9 per cent (11 per cent for the four most common cancers) since 2010. Specifically, the new figures do not relate to the proportion of those diagnosed who are surviving, but denote a decline in the proportion of the whole population dying of this disease per 100,000. Given the fact that cancer diagnoses are rising in the UK, these findings suggest the proportion of people with cancer who survive the disease must be even higher .

Cancer Research UK attributes this improvement to earlier detection, more accurate diagnosis and more effective treatment. It is interesting to note however, that amongst men the death rate decrease has been more marked (12 per cent) than amongst women (8 per cent) when both sexes would have been expected to experience the improvement equally if only improved NHS services were the cause.

This imbalance may suggest that factors beyond clinical health services are contributing to men’s improved survival rates. One explanation may lie in men’s growing awareness of the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle and a resulting modification of many men’s behaviour.

As Cancer Research UK states, early detection is important. Men and women are likely to be equally well informed on possible symptoms of cancer, and will be equally ready to seek medical advice when confronted by such symptoms. However, in the past it was a commonplace that men were more reluctant to go to their doctors than were women. Perhaps the more marked improvement in men’s survival rates from cancer shows that they are more readily seeing their GPs about important health issues, becoming more willing to accept medical help.

The prevention of disease is also likely to be playing a part in improving cancer survival rates even though this is not mentioned in Cancer Research UK’s present press release. Knowledge of the kind of behaviour that makes disease more unlikely is becoming more commonplace, after all disease is caused in the community, long before you see a doctor.

The overall increase in UK cancer rates, is, as already stated, due to a growing and ageing population. Consequently, the NHS is coming under unprecedented pressure in its treatment of other diseases which are also linked to old age. Changing behaviour on the part of the individual, increased awareness of cancer risks and symptoms, as well as improvements in technology and the quality of clinical services, have together reduced cancer mortality rates; evidence that good healthcare rests on more than the availability of good clinical services alone. This multi-faceted approach is what we need to keep 21st century disease on the back foot.

Edmund Stubbs is Healthcare Researcher at Civitas @edmundstubbs1

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