Supplementary evidence by Cancer Research
UK
CANCER IN
THE OVER
70S IN
THE UK
Incidence
— Half (52%) of all cancers diagnosed
each year in the UK are diagnosed in people over the age of 70.
— Each year in the UK more than 140,000
people over 70 years are diagnosed with cancer.
— The cancer incidence rate in people
over 70 has increased by 3% over the last ten years (increased
by 4% in the under 70s over the same period).
— Cancers of the lung, bowel, prostate
and breast account for more than half (55%) of cancers diagnosed
in the over 70s in the UK.
|
| Persons—70 years and over Number of new
cases per annum% of all cases in
the over 70s
|
|
| All malignant neoplasms excl NMSC | 140,494
| 100 |
| Lung | 22,511
| 16 |
| Colorectal | 20,779
| 15 |
| Prostate | 19,129
| 14 |
| Breast | 14,170
| 10 |
| Bladder | 7,042
| 5 |
| Stomach | 5,996
| 4 |
| Oesophagus | 4,456
| 3 |
| Pancreas | 4,364
| 3 |
| Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma | 4,193
| 3 |
| All leukaemias | 3,517
| 3 |
| Kidney | 2,905
| 2 |
| Head and neck | 2,843
| 2 |
| Ovary | 2,831
| 2 |
| All uterus | 2,443
| 2 |
| Melanoma | 2,189
| 2 |
| Multiple myeloma | 2,128
| 2 |
| Liver | 1,490
| 1 |
| Brain with central nervous system | 1,353
| 1 |
| Mesothelioma | 1,086
| 1 |
| Larynx | 890
| 1 |
|
MORTALITY
— Almost two thirds of deaths from cancer in the
UK are in people over the age of 70.
— Each year in the UK almost 100,000 people over
the age of 70 die from cancer.
— The cancer mortality rate in the over 70s has
fallen by about 1.5% in the last 10 years (decreased by 13% in
the under 70s).
SURVIVAL
— Lung cancer five-year relative survival rates
in patients under 50 are around 10-25% compared with less than
5% in patients over 70.
— Five-year relative survival rates for patients
diagnosed with breast cancer in their 50s are around 85% compared
with 60-70% in patients over 70.
— More than half of people diagnosed with bowel
cancer before age 70 are successfully treated compared with fewer
than 40% of those aged 80+.
Table 1:
FIVE YEAR RELATIVE SURVIVAL BY SITE AND AGE AT DIAGNOSIS
FOR PATIENTS DIAGNOSED IN eNGLAND AND wALES DURING 1996-99 AND
FOLLOWED UP TO THE END OF 2001
|
| | Age at diagnosis
|
|
| | 15-39
%
| 40-49
% | 50-59
%
| 60-69
% | 70-79
%
| 80-99
% |
| Bladder | men
women
| 90
78 | 84
70
| 77
70 | 70
65
| 62
53 | 48
40
|
| Breast | women
| 76 | 82
| 85 | 82
| 74 | 58
|
| Cervix | women
| 83 | 73
| 60 | 48
| 36 | 22
|
| Colon | men
women
| 61
58 | 54
54
| 50
54 | 50
52
| 47
48 | 40
39
|
| Lung | men
women
| 21
28 | 9
13
| 9
11 | 7
8
| 5
4 | 2
1
|
| Ovary | women
| 81 | 55
| 44 | 32
| 23 | 15
|
| Prostate | men
| 76 | 58
| 75 | 77
| 68 | 48
|
| Rectum | men
women
| 54
60 | 55
61
| 54
62 | 52
58
| 47
49 | 34
36
|
| Stomach | men
women
| 18
19 | 17
22
| 15
20 | 16
19
| 12
14 | 7
|
| Testis | men
| 97 | 96
| 95 | 86
| 67 | 55
|
| Uterus | women
| 77 | 81
| 85 | 78
| 67 | 45
|
|
POPULATION
— Currently around 12% of the population is over
the age of 70, this has increased from 8% in 1970 and is set to
increase to 16% by 2025.
— If current incidence rates remain the same the
ageing population will result in an extra 100,000 cases of cancer
being diagnosed annually by 2025, the vast majority of these cases
will be in the over 70s.
March 2005
|
