Figures show cancer has surpassed heart disease as main killer
Men are now more likely to die from cancer than heart disease, according to the latest figures released by Cancer Research UK.
Heart disease has, until now, been the primary cause of death among men in the UK. However, the new figures show that cancer is the biggest killer.
The change is down to a 30% decline in male heart disease-related deaths over the last 10 years. Cancer death rates have also fallen, but only by 15% during the same period ' pushing it into the lead as the biggest mortality risk.
Although cancer is expected to remain the leading cause of death for the next decade, Cancer Research UK claims that declining rates of smoking and other lifestyle changes, in addition to steady advances in diagnosis and treatment will mean death rates will continue to decline.
Professor Nick Day, leading epidemiologist at Cancer Res- earch UK, said: 'At the moment the gap between male deaths from cancer and heart disease is small but the difference will widen over the next 10 years as deaths from heart disease continue to drop at a more rapid rate than cancer.'
According to the charity, lung, prostate, bowel, oesophageal and stomach cancer are currently the biggest killers among men in the UK. However, it is confident that mortality rates for these conditions will also decrease in the future.
Dr John Toy, medical director at Cancer Research UK, explained: 'With the introd-uction of bowel screening in the future and improvements in the way prostate cancers are managed, we fully expect deaths from these diseases to fall. We are investigating better combinations of chemotherapy for oesophageal and stomach cancer, so advances here will hopefully lead to a decline in male mortality.'
While most cancer incidence rates are falling, bowel cancer is still on the increase among UK men. Toy said that British men are more inclined to dispel early warning signs of the disease, despite the fact that a large number of bowel cancers can be prevented by simple changes in diet.
'It is vital that men are made aware of the early warning signs of cancer and realise the chances of being cured are far better if the disease is treated as soon as it becomes apparent,' he said.
