Staggering 2MILLION years of life ‘are lost to cancer every year in Britain’

More than two million years of life are lost to cancer in the UK every year, according to a new study.

In the first analysis of its kind, experts have determined how many years of life in Britain have been cut short by the disease.

A team from Cancer Research UK, King’s College London and Queen Mary University of London used average life expectancy and data on cancer deaths to estimate time lost.

Based on people’s ages at death, they estimate that the number of cancer deaths in the UK each year shortens life expectancy by 2,308,277 years.

Dr. Judith Offman, who led the work at King’s College London, said: “This analysis allows us to recognize the impact of cancer on patients and their families and recognize the valuable time lost as a result.”

While the total number of years of life lost per year from all types of cancer combined has increased in the growing population since the 1980s, rates have fallen by 15 percent over three decades

Around 167,000 people die of cancer every year – around 460 people every day.

High diagnoses and poor survival rates mean around a fifth of total years lost are due to lung cancer, with more than 500,000 a year.

Patients typically die 14 years earlier from lung, liver, pancreatic and stomach cancer, 17 years earlier from breast and ovarian cancer, 25 years earlier from cervical cancer and 33 years earlier from testicular cancer.

They predict that about 213,000 years of life are lost each year to colorectal cancer and about 197,000 to breast cancer.

But while the growing population as a whole has seen years of life lost to all cancers overall since the 1980s, rates have fallen by 15 percent over three decades.

Thanks to breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment, rates of stomach cancer have fallen by 59 percent, cervical cancer by 58 percent and breast cancer by 39 percent.

The total number of years of life lost due to cervical cancer was about 43,600 in 1988, but under the cervical cancer screening program, this number has fallen to about 21,800 in 2017.

The analysis shows that liver, melanoma and kidney cancers have seen an increase in years of life lost, largely due to increasing case numbers, but rates have fallen for other cancers.

Rising obesity and increasing alcohol consumption are blamed for the increase in years of life lost to liver cancer, with rates increasing by 157 percent in 30 years.

The number of years lost overall due to testicular cancer is now lower because survival rates are good. But for those who don’t make it, the average years of loss is high at 33 because they die young.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the fight was far from over.

She praised the government’s announcement last week to raise the minimum age for selling tobacco products as “a welcome step” and said: “This new analysis is a stark reminder of the impact that cancer has on the lives of so many people in the UK today .”

“Behind the statistics are people affected by cancer, and these lost years of life are missed opportunities to reach milestones and spend valuable time with loved ones.”