Credit: Bill Branson
Cancer deaths in children, adolescents, and young adults in the UK have fallen by 58% in the past 40 years, according to new figures from Cancer Research UK.*
Among cancer patients age 24 and under, the number of deaths each year dropped from about 1300 in the mid-1970s (1975-1977) to around 550 in more recent years (2010-2012).
And patients with leukemia have seen the steepest decline in mortality.
This is key because, according to Cancer Research UK, leukemia is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in children aged 14 and under and the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer among 15- to 24-year-olds.
“These figures are testament to the real progress we’re making in treating children and young people with cancer,” said Pam Kearns, PhD, director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit in Birmingham.
“But hundreds of young people are dying from cancer each year in the UK, which means there’s still much more we need to do.”
Around 1600 children and 2200 adolescents and young adults are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK.
And cancer remains the biggest killer of children and young people in the UK. It is the most common cause of death in children and young women aged 15 to 24 and the fourth most common cause of death in young men aged 15 to 24.
Still, the latest figures from Cancer Research UK show progress.
The mortality rate for all cancer patients ages 0 to 24 fell from 63.7 per million in 1975-1977 to 36.7 per million in 2001-2003 and then to 27.9 per million in 2010-2012. So the mortality rate has fallen 56% since 1975 and 24% in the last decade.
The average number of cancer deaths among children age 0 to 24 fell from 1325 in 1975-1977 to 681 in 2001-2003 and then to 550 in 2010-2012. That translates to a 58% decrease in deaths from 1975 and a 19% decrease in the last decade.
For leukemia patients ages 0 to 24, the mortality rate fell from 9.6 per million in 2001-2003 to 5.6 per million in 2010-2012, which translates to a 42% decrease. The annual average number of deaths dropped from 179 in 2001-2003 to 110 in 2010-2012, which translates to a 39% decrease.
“Cancer causes more deaths among children and young people than any other disease in the UK, so it’s hugely encouraging to see that death toll now falling steadily,” said Harpal Kumar, DSc, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive.
“But as the largest funder of research into children’s cancers in the UK, we will keep going until no young lives are lost to cancer.”
To that end, Cancer Research UK has launched “Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens,” an ongoing campaign to fund more research to find better treatments for young cancer patients.
“Money raised by ‘Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens’ will be restricted to research into cancers affecting children, teenagers, and young adults, enabling us to better understand these cancers and find better and kinder treatments and cures,” Dr Kumar said. “In the next 5 to 10 years, Cancer Research UK hopes to double the amount it spends on these cancers.”
*Some of the information in this article is not available on the Cancer Research UK website (and was sent to HematologyTimes upon request), but similar data and additional details are available on the organization’s Cancer Stats page.