The proportion of women dying from breast cancer has dropped by more than 10
per cent in five years thanks to better treatment for the disease, say
scientists.
The researchers, who looked at cancer rates across Europe, found death rates
from the disease in Britain have dropped so much they are now "similar
- or even slightly lower - than those in France and Germany".
The situation is a radical change from a decade ago, when they were the
highest out of six major European countries: the UK, France, Germany, Italy,
Spain and Poland.
Dr Rachel Greig, of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "Whilst
we know breast cancer incidence is on the increase, it's reassuring to see
positive indications that the rate of breast cancer deaths could decrease in
2012.
"At Breakthrough we know better awareness and treatment are leading to
more people than ever surviving the disease.
"However, 12,000 women are still dying every year in the UK so we must
continue to invest in research and education and women must continue to be
breast aware."
Catherine Thomson, head of statistical information at Cancer Research UK, said
the study, like others, "shos that generally death rates from cancer in
the UK are predicted to fall".
Italian and Swiss researchers who looked at World Health Organisation (WHO)
data found the breast cancer death rate in Britain was 18.39 per 100,000
women in 2007, but was predicted to fall to 15.95 per 100,000 in 2012, a
fall of 13 per cent. Europewide, the fall is only predicted to be 9.0 per
cent.
Better treatment, rather than screening, appears to be the principal driving
force behind the rapid declines, they concluded, after finding the death
rate had dropped faster in the under 50s.
Professor Carlo La Vecchia, one of the study leaders from the University of
Milan, said: "The fact that there will be substantial falls in deaths
from breast cancer, not only in middle age, but also in the young, indicates
that important advancements in treatment and management are playing a major
role in the decline in death rates, rather than mammographic screening,
which is usually restricted to women aged 50 to 70 in most European
countries.
"In general, many important risk factors for breast cancer, including
menstrual and reproductive factors, physical activity and obesity, have not
changed favourably, and breast cancer incidence has probably not gone down,
yet deaths from the disease are declining."
Labour invested heavily to increase the number of cancer doctors, reduce the
length of time patients waited to be seen, and improve the availability of
treatments such as highly-targeted radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Although British women with breast cancer now have a better chance of beating
the disease than before, the country still lags behind the European average.
The breast cancer death rate across 27 EU countries examined is predicted to
be 14.85 per 100,000 in 2012.
Spain tops the league, with fewer than 12 per 100,000 in the population
predicted to die of the disease.
Diane Abbott, the Shadow Health Minister, said of the reduction in British
deaths: "I obviously welcome this decline, which happened under Labour.
It is also a tribute to the campaigners who raised awareness of breast
cancer."
She added: "It's one of the many aspects of health that improved under
Labour."
A Department of Health spokesman said: "This study reflects advancements
in cancer services, but our survival rates still lag behind comparable
countries".
"That's why we are investing more than £750 million to make sure people
are diagnosed with cancer earlier and have better access to the latest
treatments.
"Through our investment and modernisation of the NHS, our aim is to save
5,000 more lives every year by 2015 - closing the gap in cancer survival
between us and the best-performing countries in the world."
Natural Woman recommends -
