Cancer is biggest cause of premature death in UK, but survival rate increasing

New figures released from Cancer Research UK show that cancer is the biggest cause of premature deaths in the United Kingdom. But thanks to the development of better treatments, more people are surviving the disease than ever before.

Based on 2009 figures, the latest year for which UK mortality data is available, cancer is responsible for killing 40% of people in the UK who die prematurely between the ages of 25 and 73.

More people die from cancer than from deadly diseases like heart disease and AIDs, as well as other causes like road accidents, suicides and murder.

Overall in 2009 there were 156,090 deaths from cancer in the UK. This is 73,000 more deaths than those caused by coronary heart disease, and 35,000 more than those caused by respiratory diseases.

Of all the cancers, lung cancer is the deadliest, killing 35,000 people in the UK in 2009. This is followed by bowel cancer with 16,000 deaths, breast cancer with 11,700 deaths, and prostate cancer with 10,300 deaths. Together, these four forms of the disease count for almost half of the deaths caused by cancer.

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