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How Common Was Cancer Throughout History?
Cancer was thought to be a common disease only in the last two centuries due to factors such as longer life expectancy, smoking habits and exposure to tumour-inducing chemicals after the Industrial Revolution.
However, a study by the University of Cambridge shows that cancer was more prevalent than previously thought. The study analysed 143 skeletons dating from the 6th to the 16th centuries. The researchers estimate that 9% to 14% of medieval Britons developed cancer.
(HUNT, 2021)
General Statistics
The UK only started collecting detailed cancer statistics in the 1970s. However, the available data indicates that survival rates for some of the most common cancers, have more than doubled since the early 1950s.
According to Cancer Research UK, more than half of the newly diagnosed cancer cases in females in the UK are breast, lung, or bowel cancer.
(ARNEY, 2012)
1970
46.1% of women with cervical cancer survived beyond 10 years
2010
Almost 63% of women with cervical cancer survived beyond 10 years
(CANCER RESEARCH UK, 2015)
Cervical Cancer
The survival rate for cervical cancer is almost 100% when precancerous or early cancerous changes are detected and treated.
- NHS statistics show that the five-year survival rate for lung cancer has more than doubled since 2005, rising from 9% to 20%
ROY CASTLE LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION, 2023).
- The survival rate for people with stage 3 colon cancer has greatly improved in recent years. Compared to the 1990s, there has been a nearly 50% decrease in the mortality rate.
This is mainly due to better screening methods and newer therapies being introduced.
(MYHRE AND SIFRIS, MD, 2024)
- 9 out of 10 people survive bowel cancer if diagnosed in the early stage
- 78.4% of women in UK survive beyond 10 years of diagnosis.
(CANCER RESEARCH UK, 2015)