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Bowel cancer death rates fall
Number of deaths from bowel cancer falling |
The number of people dying from bowel cancer in Britain has fallen dramatically over the past three decades.
Earlier detection and better treatment have led to a 36% reduction in bowel cancer mortality rates for women in England and Wales. For men, the fall has been 20% over the same period - 1971 to 1998.
But the disease is still the UK's second biggest killer after lung cancer and experts warned that death rates are lagging well behind those in the United States.
There are 17,000 deaths from the cancer in Britain each year and the five year survival rate for sufferers is just 40%, compared to 60% in America.
Dr Lesley Walker, head of scientific information at the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC), said: "We're delighted that more lives are being saved from bowel cancer - thanks to better reporting and treatment of the disease.
"But UK survival rates are still lagging behind those in the US and this shameful situation can only be changed with a greater investment in our health service."
There was also a need, she said, to investigate why death rates are falling faster for women than for men. She suggested this may be because women are more likely to go to their doctor with early symptoms.
 UK survival rates are still lagging behind those in the US  |
| Dr Lesley Walker |
But advances such as combination chemotherapy have led to the dramatic improvement in British survival rates.
Screening programmes
Two pilot trials for screening programmes are now underway in the UK to see if this could save more lives.
The CRC study also highlights a rise in the number of people developing bowel cancer world-wide, with Japan one of the countries to see the biggest increase.
Diet is thought to be largely responsible for the disease and greater access to western-style food is blamed for the global increase. High alcohol consumption is another cause.
Dr Walker said the improvement in the US and the UK suggested public health campaigns on healthy eating had been successful.
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01 May 99 | Health |
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Bowel cancer: The silent killer |
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27 Aug 99 | Health |
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Cancer deaths fall in Europe |
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Doctors pioneer bowel cancer treatment |
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19 Nov 99 | Medical notes |
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Bowel cancer |
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Internet links: |
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Cancer Research Campaign |
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Bowel cancer fact sheet |
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CancerBACUP |
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