Cancer rates in middle-aged Scotswomen show biggest increase in 30 years

CANCER rates among middle-aged women in Scotland have risen by more than 25 per cent over the last thirty years, according to a UK charity.

Everyday in Scotland ten women in their forties and fifties are diagnosed with a form of cancer, more than any other area of the UK, according to Cancer Research UK. Over the past 30 years, cancer rates have increased considerably among middle-aged men and women throughout Britain.

In 1979, 20,000 middle-aged men were diagnosed with cancer throughout Great Britain, but that has now increased to 24,000 men a year.

However,. the biggest increase in new cancer cases over the past generation has been among middle-aged women.

There were 2,563 women aged 40-59 diagnosed with cancer each year in Scotland in the late 1970s compared with 3,537 a year today - an increase of 974 cases a year.

According to health officials, the increase is in part due to the NHS breast screening programme.

Higher rates of smoking, drinking of alcohol and obesity are all thought to contribute to cancer among Scots.

The charity highlighted the figures today as it launched a moving national TV advertising campaign featuring families affected by cancer. It hopes the advert will encourage more people to donate to Cancer Research.

John Fyall, Cancer Research UK spokesman for Scotland, said: "There has been great progress in the treatment of cancer since the 1970s and many more people in Scotland are now surviving the disease.

"But we must redouble our efforts so that cancer survival becomes the norm for patients, irrespective of the type of cancer they have or their age of diagnosis. As the number of people diagnosed with the diseases continues to rise and as the economy tightens, we need the support of local people now more than ever."

Survival rates for people receiving a diagnosis of cancer have doubled since the 1970s.

Scottish men are still 6 per cent more likely and women are 8 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than people living elsewhere in the UK.

More Scots are also still dying of cancer. Scottish women are 13 per cent more likely to die from cancer and Scottish men are 14 per cent more likely to die.

And despite the incidence of prostate cancer being lower in Scotland than in the UK as a whole, the mortality rate is the same.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Scotland has made good progress in cancer treatment over the last two decades, with cancer being diagnosed and treated earlier and new targets on cancer waiting times being met ahead of schedule.

"Scotland led the UK in bringing in a ban on smoking in public places, and we will be reintroducing plans to bring in a minimum price for alcohol in renewed efforts to tackle the country's damaging relationship with alcohol.

"However, we recognise there is more to do. That's why the health secretary will soon set out details of our Detect Cancer Early initiative."