Cancer death rates almost 60% higher in UK’s most deprived areas – Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Our latest report reveals that cancer death rates are nearly 60% higher for people living in the most deprived areas of the UK compared with the least deprived, with around 28,400 cancer deaths each year linked to socioeconomic inequality.

Many of these are due to differences in exposure to risk factors like smoking, with smoking rates in the most deprived parts of the country at least triple those in the least deprived.

However, our report also reveals huge variations in cancer care, with people living in the most deprived areas being more likely to be diagnosed late and receive less effective treatments.

Our inequalities programme lead, Karis Betts, said: ‘To tackle cancer inequalities, our health services need to work together with communities themselves to prevent the causes of cancer and spot the disease earlier.

‘Sustainably funding support to help people stop smoking will avoid so many cancer cases in deprived areas. But we also need new and better ways to diagnose cancer at an early stage, like targeted lung screening, which is proven to help save lives in at-risk communities. It’s vital that this is fully rolled out across England, followed by all four UK nations.’

Beating cancer means beating it for everyone and that’s why we’ve developed our cancer and health inequalities strategy, which provides a clear plan to tackle inequalities within the broader health system.

Read more about cancer inequalities and what we’re doing to tackle them.

Cancer death rates almost 60% higher in UK’s most deprived areas.

By Amy Warnock.

Cancer affects everyone, but the burden of cancer isn’t distributed evenly across the population, with health inequalities causing unfair differences in cancer outcomes.

Health inequalities are driven by a complex interplay of determinants such as exposure to cancer risk factors and variation in access to healthcare. Inequalities exist by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and many other factors.

We know that socioeconomic factors, including things like income and education, play a particularly large role in driving cancer inequalities, and a new report that we’ve published today illustrates the scale of the problem.

Our new report, Cancer in the UK 2025: Socioeconomic deprivation, shows that cancer death rates are nearly 60% higher for people living in the most deprived areas of the UK compared with the least deprived*, with around 28,400 cancer deaths each year linked to socioeconomic inequality. This equates to around 78 deaths each day – more than 3 in 20 of all deaths from cancer**.

‘Beating cancer must mean beating it for everybody,’ said Dr. Ian Walker, executive director of policy and information at Cancer Research UK.

‘No one should be at a greater risk of dying from this devastating disease simply because of where they live. These figures are shocking and unacceptable – but crucially, they’re avoidable.’

Preventable risk factors

Around a tenth of all cancer diagnoses in the UK are linked to deprivation. Many of these are caused by preventable risk factors such as smoking and obesity.

Smoking is the biggest cause of cancer in the UK, and smoking rates in the most deprived parts of the country are at least triple those in the least deprived. Smoking causes at least 16 different types of cancer, and more than 6 in 10 lung cancer cases in the UK.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the UK and data from this new report shows that nearly half of the deaths related to deprivation are from lung cancer, where the death rate in the most deprived areas is almost three times that of the least deprived areas of the UK.

Overweight and obesity is the second biggest cause of cancer (2015)***, and almost 4 in 10 people living in the most deprived areas of England are obese.

Keeping a healthy weight can help to reduce the risk of 13 different types of cancer, but inequalities in access to outdoor space and food environment are extremely complex and people from lower income groups can face substantial challenges when it comes to living healthily.

Differences in cancer care

The report also highlights huge disparities in cancer care, with people living in more deprived areas more likely to be diagnosed late and offered less effective treatments.

Diagnosing cancer early is essential to improving cancer outcomes, because spotting cancer at an early stage means that treatment is more likely to be successful. But our report shows that people in the most deprived areas of England are more likely to be diagnosed at the late stage for some cancer sites and are over 50% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer through presenting with symptoms as an emergency.

‘People from more deprived areas are being diagnosed too late. Improving access to NHS services through funding and innovation will be vital, so that everyone gets the care they deserve,’ said Walker.

Cancer screening is an important tool in the early diagnosis of cancer, but socioeconomic factors can also lead to differences in screening uptake. Data from our report showed that bowel screening participation is around a quarter lower in the most deprived parts of England.

People living in the most deprived areas of England are also more likely to have to wait over 104 days to begin treatment after an urgent suspected cancer referral, falling into a group known as ‘long waiters’.

Our cancer and health inequalities strategy

At Cancer Research UK we believe that beating cancer means beating it for everyone.

Our commitment to tackling inequalities is woven throughout our organisational long-term strategy, from championing a more diverse and inclusive research community to reducing the inequalities in access to cancer care. However, there’s a need for focus and prioritisation.

That why we’ve developed our cancer and health inequalities strategy, which provides a clear and actionable plan to tackle inequalities within the broader health system.

Read our strategy.

Taking action

Cancer inequalities remain a huge issue in the UK, and we need government action to make a difference. For example, developing targeted campaigns to make it easier for people to access help when they need it.

The UK Government also needs to increase investment in cancer services in areas where the need is highest – including through sustainable funding for smoking cessation services to help prevent more cancers.

‘To tackle cancer inequalities, our health services need to work together with communities themselves – to prevent the causes of cancer and spot the disease earlier,’ said Karis Betts, Cancer Research UK’s inequalities programme lead.

‘Sustainably funding support to help people stop smoking will avoid so many cancer cases in deprived areas. But we also need new and better ways to diagnose cancer at an early stage, like targeted lung screening, which is proven to help save lives in at-risk communities. It’s vital that this is fully rolled out across England, followed by all UK nations.’

The recently announced National Cancer Plan for England will be vital for delivering a turning point for cancer. It’s a crucial opportunity for the UK Government to look at the big picture on cancer inequalities and provide the investment that cancer services everywhere desperately need.

* Deprivation was measured using indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) for each separate UK nation. This assigns a score to relatively small geographical areas which can then be grouped into quintiles. IMDs use a number of factors including income, employment, education, and access to services.

** Additional deaths calculated by assessing how many deaths there would be if mortality rates in all areas were the same as those in the least deprived areas in each individual UK nation, and then summed for a total UK figure.

*** Brown et al, British Journal of Cancer, 2018.”

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