Kidney cancer rates ‘on the increase in England’

The government has highlighted new figures demonstrating the increase in kidney cancer rates in England over the last decade.

Around 3,500 people died from kidney cancer in England in 2011, with incidence rates increasing by 31 percent and mortality rates rising by seven percent over the last ten years.

Of those diagnosed with kidney cancer, approximately 71 percent will survive for at least one year and around 54 percent live for at least five years, with those who receive early diagnoses generally having the best prognoses.

These figures have been released to coincide with the launch of a new NHS Be Clear on Cancer campaign that aims to drive awareness of the fact that blood in urine is a key symptom of bladder and kidney cancers, while encouraging people to visit their GP if they spot the symptom.

Chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said: "Getting people diagnosed early is a crucial part of this government's drive to have cancer services amongst the best in the world and save an extra 5,000 lives every year by 2014."

Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in adults in the UK, with about 9,300 people being diagnosed with the disease each year.