United Kingdom: The UK is seeing its lowest rate of cancer survival in 50 years, according to a report. Experts attribute this to the negative effects of austerity on the country’s health.
Almost half of patients (49.8 percent) now have cancer and survive for ten years or longer, according to the report. However, after 2010, the rate of improvement in prognosis slowed significantly and increased by an average of 0.6 percent annually between 2011 and 2018. In previous decades, the 10-year survival rate increased by 1.5 percent to 2.7 percent.
Data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer division of the World Health Organization, indicate that by 2050, the number of cancer cases worldwide is expected to increase by over 75 percent. These factors include obesity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use.
About two-thirds of new cases and deaths worldwide in 2022 were attributable to 10 types of cancer, according to the IARC’s global cancer observatory, which covers 185 countries and 36 different types of the disease.
As of 2012, there were 14.1 million new cases and 8.2 million deaths worldwide from cancer. A decade later, that number is expected to rise to 20 million new cases and 9.7 million deaths.
By 2050, the IARC projects that there will be over 35 million new cases of cancer, up 77 percent from 2022 levels, and that the number of deaths from the disease will have nearly doubled to over 18 million.
Lung cancer accounts for 12.4 percent of new cases and 18.7 percent of deaths globally, making it the most frequently diagnosed cancer. According to Cancer Research in the UK, increased lung cancer screening across all four countries could avert roughly 1,900 lung cancer-related deaths annually.
As per the charity, smoking continues to be the primary cause of cancer in the UK, accounting for 150 cases per day, even though a large number of people have quit.
TRENDING | Scientists discover DNA test for 18 early cancer detection
