Cancer deaths among young people have fallen in last 30 years

The number of deaths caused by cancer among teenagers and young people in the UK has fallen markedly over the last 30 years.

This is according to new findings from Cancer Research UK, which showed cancer-related deaths among these groups have almost halved in this time, falling from around 580 per year in 1975 to 1977 to 300 in 2008 and 2010.

It was shown that cancer death rates for people in this age bracket have reduced from 74.5 to 37.7 per one million 15 to 24-year-olds during these three decades.

Despite this, the research also pointed to a lack of drug development and clinical trial access regarding many cancers suffered by individuals in this age range.

Professor Jillian Birch, a Cancer Research UK teenage cancer expert, said there is still a problem with "getting teenagers and young adults on to clinical trials – less than 20 per cent are on trials compared to around 50 to 70 per cent of children".