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UK cancer death rates fall by a quarter since 1980s
The chance of dying from cancer has fallen by a quarter since the 1980s thanks to a “golden era” of medical advances, new research shows.
More than one million lives have been saved because of a string of breakthroughs in treatment, diagnosis and prevention, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK, which the charity said proved the disease was a “fixable problem”.
Cancer mortality rates — the proportion of a population to die from the disease in a given year — peaked in 1985 for men and 1989 for women, and have fallen by 24 per cent since then.
Had death rates stayed the same, the charity estimates that an additional 1.2 million people would have died from cancer in the UK over the past 40 years.
However, the impact of all these medical breakthroughs has been dwarfed by the immense impact of the drop in smoking rates, which has prevented more than half a million deaths since the 1980s.
Smoking rates in Great Britain have fallen by two thirds since the 1950s, when research first proved that tobacco causes cancer. Awareness campaigns, as well as the 2007 ban on smoking in public places, means that lung cancer mortality rates have decreased by a third.
Source: The Times, 1 September 2023
See also: Cancer Research UK analysis - One million lives saved: How our research milestones mean more moments for people with cancer
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Smoking Is a Dying Habit. Not in Germany.
Public health officials in Germany are raising the alarm over an unexpected uptick in cigarette smoking—including among the young—that started in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The overall smoking rate in Germany was just over 34% in July, according to the most recent findings from Debra, a bimonthly survey funded by the German Health Ministry.
In March 2020, the rate was 26.5%. The percentage of Germans between 14 and 17 years old who said they smoked cigarettes jumped to 15.9% in 2022, from 8.7% in 2021, according to Debra. This makes Germany an outlier among other developed nations.
A European Union-sponsored survey in 2019 found that more Germans were daily smokers than their European neighbors.
The country’s public-health experts are now urging the government to increase cigarette taxes to drive up prices. The average cost for a pack of cigarettes in Germany was around €6.65 in 2022, according to industry data, equivalent to about $7.26. The price in Germany is less than France and the U.K. but more than twice as expensive as nearby Poland. In some parts of the U.S., a pack of cigarettes costs as much as $15.
Daniel Kotz, an epidemiologist based in Düsseldorf and director of the Debra study, said he believed relatively low prices and lax antismoking policies set the context for the post-pandemic uptick.
A spokeswoman for the federal health ministry said reducing tobacco consumption and protecting the young are urgent policy goals. The government in 2020 banned outdoor advertising of tobacco products. In 2021, lawmakers approved a multiyear cigarette-tax increase totaling about 50 cents a pack and levied fresh taxes on new products, including heated tobacco and e-cigarette refill containers.
Source: Mint, 31 August 2023
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The King's Fund responds to the latest ONS data on ethnic and socio-demographic inequalities in mortality rates for common physical health conditions
Responding to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on ethnic and socio-demographic inequalities in mortality rates for common physical health conditions: England, 21 March 2021 to 31 January 2023, Veena Raleigh, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said:
“More and more people in England are living with long-term ill health, while the gap between the healthiest and least healthy continues to widen. Not only does this increase pressures on the NHS, but it is also taking a toll on the economy by increasing the number of people out of work due to sickness. This national decline into worsening health can be reversed by tackling preventable conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and smoking- and obesity-related cancers.
“The data highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving the health of different communities. Ministers, NHS leaders, council leaders and others all need to be fully aware of these nuanced differences and the factors driving them. As political parties gear up for the next election, if they want to curb demand for NHS services while also boosting the economy, they must develop clear plans for preventing ill health that address the specific needs of different communities.”
See also: ONS - Inequalities in mortality involving common physical health conditions, England: 21 March 2021 to 31 January 2023
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