Womb cancer survival rates have risen by 16% since the 1970s, report reveals
Survival rates for cancer of the womb have increased by 16% in the last 30 years, according to a new report.
Latest research published by Cancer Research UK revealed that the five-year survival rates for womb cancer have now risen to 77%.
However, the cancer charity also found that the incidence among women aged between 60 and 79 has risen by 30% in less than a decade.
Report author and Cancer Research UK epidemiologist Lucy Boyd said the rise in cases in older women is a concern.
She said: "We feel it is vitally important to raise awareness of this disease and encourage women to look out for the early symptoms.
"They can include abnormal vaginal bleeding or discharge, bleeding after the menopause and, less commonly, low pelvic pain.
"Survival rates would be even higher if more women reported their symptoms to their doctor at an earlier stage."
Womb cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women. It affects around 6,000 women in the UK each year - twice as many as cervical cancer.
More than 90% of cases occur in women aged over 50 and 75% occur in women who have been through the menopause.
It is not clear what causes the disease but a number of factors, including being overweight and not having given birth, are said to increase a woman's risk of developing cancer of the womb.
Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said weight had a big part to play in womb cancer.
She said: "Womb cancer in particular has the strongest links to obesity - a woman with a healthy body weight has half the risk an obese woman has of getting the disease."
