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Revealed: The Cancer Maps of Great Britain

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

AN ATLAS showing the rates of different cancers across the country was published yesterday as experts launched a campaign to encourage healthier lifestyles.

The maps showed a higher incidence in avoidable deaths in parts of northern England and Scotland.

This was blamed on excessive drinking, smoking, poor diets and lack of exercise.

Experts said thousands of lives could be saved each year if people in those areas changed their lifestyles.

The Office of National Statistics published the 'Cancer Atlas' to show that deaths from cancers of the lung, voice box, lips, mouth and throat were much higher in the North.

The atlas the first attempt to map cancer trends for the whole of the UK and Ireland contains colour-coded maps showing the distribution of 21 of the most common cancers between 1991 and 2000.

Lung cancer remains the most common cancer in men.

Cancers of the lung, breast, prostate and bowel account for 50 per cent of all deaths.

The incidence of stomach cancer was higher than average in parts of London and the urban West Midlands, in bands across northern England and central Scotland, and Belfast and Dublin.

Stomach cancer, which is related to diet, was about twice as common in deprived areas as in affluent regions.

The areas in England where cancers related to drinking and smoking were most prevalent were the most historically industrialised regions.

The report revealed large variations in cervical cancer, which is related to sexual activity since it can be triggered by a sexually- transmitted virus and is strongly linked to living in deprived areas.

The urban West Midlands, a band across the North of England, and parts of Scotland had much higher rates than average.

The skin cancer melanoma was more prevalent in the South-West of England, and in Scotland and Ireland.

There was little geographical variation in the number of cases of breast, ovary and prostate cancers. Breast cancer accounts for half of all cancersdiagnosed in women.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men.

Only small differences in incidence and mortality existed for both bowel and pancreatic cancer, and these were not strongly related to socio-economic factors. Bowel cancer accounts for one in eight new diagnoses.

Rates for oesophagus, or gullet, cancer were higher than average in much of northern England and Scotland.

Report author Mike Quinn said: 'Places do not get cancer, people do. The reason areas have high rates of cancer is that people in them are exposed to the relative risk factors for those cancers.' He said it was possible to 'prevent or avoid 25,000 cases of cancer and 17,000 deaths each year'.

Dr Lesley Walker, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'If every part of the UK had the same incidence and mortality rates as the healthiest areas, 25,580 cases and 17,450 deaths could be avoided.

'Half of all cancers equivalent to 135,000 cases a year in the UK could be prevented by changes to lifestyle.' Cancer Research UK's Reduce The Risk campaign urges people to take five steps: Stop smoking, stay in shape, eat and drink healthily, be sunsmart, and look after number one know your body and go for screening when invited.

Meanwhile, the British Heart Foundation painted a similar picture for coronary heart disease across the UK. Professor Peter Weissberg, of the BHF, said: 'The North-South divide in death rates has been a problem for decades and it is concerning that the gap is not narrowing, despite efforts made in recent years to improve public health in the areas most in need.' Last night, a Department of Health spokesman said preventative policies were being 'implemented first in those areas where prevalence of cancer is particularly high'.

She added: 'We have recently established a group of the 88 most health-deprived areas in England who will be the first to pilot initiatives such as health trainers and enhanced Stop Smoking Services.' She said the atlas was based on figures that predate the Government's ten-year Cancer Plan, published in 2000. Five years on, there had been a 12 per cent reduction in cancer deaths compared to 1997.

j.wheldon@dailymail.co.uk

Source: Daily Mail; London (UK)

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