New breakthroughs in cancer diagnosis and treatment are being made every day, but there are still many things people can do to reduce their individual risk of developing a form of the condition. This week the UK Government announced a new target for three out of four people with cancer to either be completely free of the disease, or living well with it, by 2035.
If successful, this will mark a significant increase in survival rates, with around 60 per cent of patients currently surviving for five years post diagnosis. While cancer can affect everyone, types of the disease and risk factors vary between men and women. Although men are more likely to develop the disease, rates are increasing much more quickly in women.
According to the World Cancer Research Fund, the number of women diagnosed with the disease in the UK increased by 3.7 per cent between 2019 and 2021. Rates among men increased by just 0.2 per cent over the same period. The difference in the number of cases between men and women also fell from around 12,900 in 2019 to 6,500 in 2021, the figures revealed.
Rates of cancer among young people are also increasing. According to Cancer Research UK, rates of the disease among people aged between 25 and 49 increased by 24 per cent between 1995 and 2019. Despite this, nine out of ten cases of cancer are diagnosed in people aged 50 and older.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer overall in the UK, accounting for around 26 per cent of all diagnoses. Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease in women, accounting for 30 per cent of cases in females.
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