Cancer still causing two million years of people’s lives to be lost

More than two million years of people’s lives are lost to cancer in the UK every year, despite significant advances in detection, diagnosis and treatment, the charity Cancer Research UK has calculated.

In a study published in the British Journal of Cancer, researchers from Cancer Research UK and King’s College London used the age at which patients died from their disease compared with the average life expectancy for the general population to estimate how many years are being ‘lost’ to cancer.

The study found that around a fifth of the total lost years, more than 500,000 per year, are from lung cancer. This is because of the high number of people diagnosed and poor survival rates.

More than 213,000 years of life are lost to bowel cancer each year and around 197,000 to breast cancer, it also calculated.

The analysis also showed that some cancer types, such as liver, melanoma and kidney, have had increases in rates of years of life lost, largely because of increases in numbers of cases.

Others, such as testicular, contribute a smaller number of lost years overall because they are less common – even though their impact on individuals is substantial.

For example, on average, people with testicular cancer lose 33 years of life, because it is usually diagnosed in younger people.

So, although relatively few people die from the disease because survival is high, those who do die are usually younger, the charity has said.

More positively, the data also showed how innovation and research is generating real progress in beating the disease.

The total number of years of life lost to cervical cancer in 1988 was around 43,600, for example. But, thanks to the effectiveness of the cervical screening programme in reducing the number of cases and diagnosing people earlier, this number had plummeted to around 21,800 in 2017.

In addition, while overall numbers of years of life lost per year to all cancers combined has risen since the 1980s, this is largely because of our growing population.

Over the 30-year study period, the rate of years of life lost each year has decreased by 15%, Cancer Research UK said.

The biggest decreases in these rates have been in stomach (down by 59%), cervical (down by 58%) and breast cancers (down by 39%), it added.

“This analysis allows us to see the impact cancer has on patients and their families, and the precious time that is lost as a result,” said King’s College cancer epidemiologist Dr Judith Offman, who led the study.

“Measuring years of life lost over a 30-year period provides a different lens to evaluate where health policies and advances in treatment have worked and highlight areas where more needs to be done.

“Research like this is instrumental in helping leaders in health and politics make the best decisions for patients and their loved ones.”

The charity is now developing a ‘manifesto’ for cancer research and care that will outline actionable policies governments can take forward to improve progress in the research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.