People who live in poorer neighbourhoods in England have a significantly higher risk of dying from cancer compared to those in wealthier areas, a new study shows. Researchers suggested that cuts to public health services, such as smoking cessation support, could have contributed to “astounding inequality” in cancer death risk.
Areas were assessed on their wealth based on the proportion of the population who claim income-related benefits due to being out of work or having low earnings. The academics said that the odds of dying from a cancer – particularly lung cancer – were linked to poverty for both men and women. Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death across both sexes, but people in the North West and the North East of England were most likely to die from lung cancer.
The data
The study, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, looked at deaths across 314 different areas of England. Experts analysed data from the Office for National Statistics on deaths from 10 cancers which cause the most deaths, including cancers of the lung, bowel, pancreas, stomach and certain blood cancers, as well as prostate in men and breast and ovarian cancers in women.
They said that the widest inequalities were for cancers where a person’s risk can be reduced with lifestyle changes – such as losing weight or stopping smoking – and for cancers where there is screening available to help cut the odds of dying from the disease.
Those in the northern cities of Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, and in coastal areas were at much greater risk of dying than those in wealthy London boroughs such as Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.
The risk of dying from cancer before 80 years of age ranged from one in ten in Westminster to one in six in Manchester for women, and from one in eight in Harrow to one in five in Manchester for men, highlighting the North-South divide. Nationally, the risk of dying from cancer declined for both men and women from 2002-19, from one in six to one in eight for women and from one in five to one in six for men.
Overall, some one in eight women across England died from cancer in 2019, compared to one in six men – a reduction compared to 2002. But some regions saw significantly larger declines in deaths compared to others. For example, the risk of dying from cancer before the age of 80 reduced by 30.1 per cent between 2002 and 2019 for women in Camden, London, but the risk only reduced by 6.6 per cent in Tendring, Essex.
For men, the largest reduction in risk was seen in Tower Hamlets, London, where researchers noted a 36.7 per cent reduced risk over the period studied, compared to a 12.8 per cent reduced risk in Blackpool.
“Although our study brings the good news that the overall risk of dying from cancer has decreased across all English districts in the last 20 years, it also highlights the astounding inequality in cancer deaths in different districts around England,” said Professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the study from Imperial College London.
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