UK cancer death rates ‘could be halved by 2030’

A new study has suggested that UK cancer death rates could be set to fall more rapidly between now and 2030 than they have done in the previous 20 years.

Research presented by the UCL School of Pharmacy has revealed that age-standardised cancer rates have fallen by more than 20 percent since 1990, but by 2030 they could drop by up to 50 percent.

This can be attributed to more effective prevention, early stage diagnosis and better medicine and surgery, while community pharmacy can also play a role in improving access to treatments and advice.

Certain areas of oncology, such as bowel cancer prevention and treatment, are likely to benefit more dramatically than others, the report indicated.

Seminar chair Professor David Taylor of the UCL School of Pharmacy said these improvements will be driven by "better approaches to public health improvement and more informed attitudes to talking about and assessing cancer risks and sharing information in ways that do not cause undue anxiety or excessive service demands".

Despite these advances, a study commissioned by Lilly last year suggested that more than two-fifths of people in the UK still perceive a cancer diagnosis as a death sentence.