Survival rates for young cancer patients improving

A new report has found that survival rates for teenagers and young adults with cancer in England are improving, particularly for those with leukaemia and bone cancer.

13-24 year olds with cancer in England: Incidence, mortality and survival, published by the Teenage Cancer Trust, examines the latest trends in the incidence, mortality and five-year survival rates for cancer amongst young people, marking the first time a detailed analysis has been conducted of cancer rates of the 13 to 24-year age group. The report shows an encouraging increase in survival rates.

Extracted from Public Health England’s National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, the figures indicate that mortality rates of all cancers combined in 13 to 24 year olds have decreased from 42.9 per million in 2001 to 32.3 per million in 2015, with the largest eduction in mortality by diagnostic group in England between 2001 and 2015 has been in Leukaemias. There have also been drops in mortality from Central Nervous System tumours, bone cancer and in lymphoma.

Additionally, the Teenage Cancer Trust highlights that five-year survival rates for cancer in 13 to 24 year olds have risen from 83 per cent in females and 80 per cent in males from 2001-05 to 87 per cent in females and 84 per cent in males from 2007-11.

However, the report also found that young patients living in poorer areas had lower chances of survival (84 per cent) compared to the least deprived areas (88 per cent). There were also large regional variations in the number of young people with cancer, although researchers said that this could be because of the differing size of populations in each area.

Kate Collins, chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “It's fantastic that this new report shows for the first time that cancer survival rates are improving in young people. This hugely positive shift has occurred since the decision by NICE in 2005 to recognise and treat teenagers and young adults as a unique patient group and embedded within the NHS the model of care pioneered and invested in by Teenage Cancer Trust.

"This report makes a strong case for the importance of such services and for sustained funding of teenage and young adult specialist care into the future. As more young people are diagnosed with cancer, more face an uncertain future where their life is put on hold at a time when it should just be getting started. We know that there are now more young people than ever before who need our specialist care and support."