UK Breast Cancer Deaths Hit Record Low

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Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Menopause
Article Date: 23 Apr 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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New figures released by Cancer Research UK show that the number of women dying from breast cancer in the UK is the lowest ever since national records began nearly 40 years ago.

In a report published on 22 April on the charity's website, the figures show that the rate of women dying from breast cancer in the UK fell to 11,990 in 2007.

In 1971, when records began, 12,472 women died from breast cancer. The total went up steadily every year afterwards, reaching a peak of 15,625 deaths in 1989.

However, since then, the figure has gone down by one third.

Director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, Dr Lesley Walker, said that although everyone at the charity was delighted that fewer women were dying from breast cancer, they did not take this as an excuse to become complacent:

"Every one of those 11,990 women who died in 2007 was someone's mother, sister, daughter, friend or colleague and Cancer Research UK -- as the UK's largest funder of breast cancer research -- is absolutely committed to finding new ways to help more women survive the disease," said Walker.

Cancer Research UK suggest two reasons for the reversed trend: better and more widespread use of treatments, and the introduction of the NHS screening programme in 1988.

Treatments include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatments such as Tamoxifen and Anastrozole that help prevent the return of the cancer.

Chief Clinician at the charity, Professor Peter Johnson told the press it was "incredibly encouraging" that fewer women were dying from breast cancer today than at any time in the last 40 years, and this is even though breast cancer is being diagnosed more often.

"Research has played a crucial role in this progress leading to improved treatments and better management for women with the disease," said Johnson, who said the NHS screening programme has helped to find breast cancers earlier, giving affected women a higher chance of survival.

"We hope these new figures will encourage women over the age of 47 to attend screening and to know that even if a tumour is found, their chances of beating it are better than ever," he urged.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, where 45,500 women are diagnosed with it every year, or 125 women every day.

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women. Lung cancer is the first.

What may come as a surprise is that men also get the disease, and in the UK some 300 cases of breast cancer a year are diagnosed in men, with about 90 men dying of the disease every year.

But unfortunately, while the figures for breast cancer in women have shown a remarkable turnaround in the last 40 years, the situation for men is unchanged.

Also, while deaths have gone down, the rates of breast cancer in women have increased by a dramatic 50 per cent in the last 25 years.

Risk factors include age (80 per cent of cases in women occur in the over 50s), obesity and alcohol consumption, and an increased tendency toward having fewer children later on life is also thought to play a part.

Hormone therapy has also been linked to breast cancer risk, although the number of women now taking it has gone done, which has resulted in a fall in breast cancer cases among women in their 50s.

Sources: Cancer Research UK.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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