The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7249 p675
17 May 2003

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Cancer Research UK (more)

Cancer now biggest killer of men

Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the biggest cause of mortality among men in the United Kingdom for the first time, according to new figures released by Cancer Research UK.

Although deaths from cancer have fallen by 15 per cent over the past decade, the drop in mortality from heart disease is even greater. It fell by 30 per cent in the same period. Experts say that progress with cancer is slower because of the complex nature of the disease.

The trend looks set to continue. Professor Nick Day, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist, commented: “At the moment the gap between male deaths from cancer and heart disease is small but the difference will widen over the next 10 years as deaths from heart disease continue to drop at a more rapid rate than deaths from cancer.”

Deaths among women from cancer in the UK overtook those from heart disease in the 1980s.