European female cancer deaths decreasing
Despite cancer being predicted to be the biggest killer in the world by next year, deaths due to the disease are declining across Europe, new figures have revealed.
New figures published in the Annals of Oncology journal show that deaths from all cancers in the European Union (EU) in 2000 and 2004 fell by eight percent in women when compared to between 1990 and 1994, with the largest drop among the middle-aged population.
A team led by Professor Carlo La Vecchia, from the University of Milan, and professor Fabio Levi, from University of Lausanne in Switzerland, found that there was an average 104.8 deaths per 100,000 of the population per year in women between 1990 and 1994 in 27 member states of the EU, but this fell to 96.9 deaths per 100,000 between 2000 and 2004.
However, researcher Dr Cristina Bosetti, head of the Unit of Cancer Epidemiology at the Mario Negri Department of Epidemiology, told cancer cover holders that deaths from lung, mouth, pharynx and oesophagus cancer continue to increase.
"Screening and early diagnosis have contributed to the decline in cervical and breast cancer, although the fall in breast cancer mortality is mainly due to improved treatment. Therapeutic advancements have also played a role in the reduced mortality from testicular cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and leukaemias, although the declines have been delayed and are smaller in eastern Europe," she explained.
Dr Bosetti added that one of the highest cancer mortality rates among women was in Scotland, with an average of 123.1 deaths per 100,000 of the population.
She told cancer insurance customers: "Interventions in alcohol drinking, aspects of nutrition, including overweight and obesity, and more widespread adoption of screening, early diagnosis and therapeutic advancements for treatable cancers would contribute to further reduce [the] European cancer burden in the near future."
Posted by James McCann
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