22 Nov 2009

Killer Cancers - Cancer Statistics

By Stuart Brown

Page 1 of 5

Editor's Weekly Ramblings 30

Friday 24th October 2003

Killer Cancers

This week has seen the news that Robert De Niro has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. A disease which gets surprisingly little coverage given the fact that it only trails lung cancer as the biggest cause of cancer deaths in men. Prostate cancer accounts for approximately 10% of male cancer deaths. Indeed, the American Cancer Society has estimated that in 2003 there will be 553,091 deaths as a result of all cancers in the United States; and over 31,000 as a result of prostate cancer alone.

Estimated US Cancer Deaths 2003				UK Cancer Deaths 2001
(Source - American Cancer Society)				(Source - Cancer Research UK)
Total Deaths from Cancer - 556,500				Total Deaths from Cancer - 154,460
MEN - 285,900		WOMEN - 270,600		MEN - 80,040		WOMEN - 74,420
Lung	31%	Lung	25%	Lung	25%	Lung	18%
Prostate	10%	Breast	15%	Prostate	12%	Breast	17%
Large Bowel-	10%	Large Bowel	11%	Large Bowel	11%	Large Bowel	10%
Pancreas	5%	Pancreas	6%	Oesphagus	6%	Ovary	6%
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma	4%	Ovary	5%	Stomach	5%	Pancreas	5%
Leukemia	4%	Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma	4%	Bladder	4%	Oesophagus	3%
Oesophagus	4%	Leukaemia	4%	Pancreas	4%	Stomach	3%
Liver and Bile Duct	3%	Uterine corpus	3%	Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma	3%	Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma	3%
Urinary Bladder	3%	Brain/ONS	2%	Leukaemia	3%	Leukaemia	2%
Kidney	3%	Multiple myeloma	2%	Head and Neck	3%	Bladder	2%
All Other Sites	22%	All Other Sites	23%	All Other Sites	24%	All Other Sites	29%
Note - Excludes basal and squamous cell skin cancers and in situ carcinomas except urinary bladder. ONS=Other Nervous Systems