It is estimated that one in three people in the UK will develop cancer at some stage in their lives and that one in four will die from the disease. This book looks at the main types of cancer, the causes and current statistics. There is also a chapter devoted to recent developments in detection, treatment and the search for cures as well as the various services that are available for care and support.
The information comes from a wide variety of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Cancer
Cancer, Cancer is biggest killer, Cancer statistics, The 20 most common cancers, UK cancer survival rates ‘worst in Europe’, Common cancer myths, Children’s cancers, Childhood cancer, Children’s tumours, Young people are confused and want to know more, The challenge of cancer, Smoking and cancer, WHO links passive smoking to cancers, Body awareness, Skin cancer deaths soaring as we soak up the sun, Sunsense, Breast health, Age and breast cancer, Prostate cancer awareness, Prostate cancer ‘most common form by 2006’, Testicular cancer awareness.
Chapter Two: Fighting Cancer
UK leads way in reducing cancer toll, A friend in need, Family and friends, You and your doctors, Fighting the big ‘C’, Controlling cancer, Radiology, Wait for care, The right to know, Complementary approaches.
Key Facts
Additional Resources
Index
• There are around 200 different types of cancer, depending on the cell type involved, and they vary greatly from each other and in the types of treatment needed. (p. 01)
• More than 70 per cent of cancers are preventable. (p. 01)
• There are over 200 different types of cancer but the four major types, lung, breast, prostate and colorectal, account for over half of all cases diagnosed. (P. 03)
• Children’s cancers are rare. Only 1 in every 600 children under 15 years of age develops a cancer. (p. 08)
• Cancers are not infectious, nor, for most cancers, is there any evidence that they are inherited. (p. 08)
• In the UK around , 1,450 children receive a diagnosis of cancer each year and the majority of these children will be successfully treated. There are now over 13,000 adult survivors of childhood cancer in the UK and the evidence is that they are virtually indistinguishable from their peers. (p. 10)
• Three-quarters of children say that they would like to know more about cancer. (p. 12)
• One in four people in England will die of cancer. More than one in three people will develop cancer at some stage in their lives. (p. 13)
• Mortality rates for breast cancer have fallen by over 20% over the past decade (p. 13)
• Falls in the rate of smoking among men since the early 1970s have led to a marked fall in the incidence and death rate from lung cancer. (p. 13)
• Overall, the number of people surviving more than five years has improved – an average of 4% every five years. (p. 13)
• One in two smokers dies prematurely: of these, nearly one in four will die of lung cancer. (p. 15)
• Although 90% of the world’s 1.2 million cases of lung cancer every year are caused by smoking, tobacco is now thought to increase the risk of developing many other kinds of cancer as well. (p. 17)
• Deaths from the worst form of skin cancer have more than trebled over the past 40 years because people are oblivious to the dangers. (p. 19)
• In Scotland, new cases of melanoma have quadrupled since the 1960s, and there has been a similar increase in England and Wales. (p. 19)
• 70-80% of patients with early cancer survive for more than 10 years after treatment. (p. 24)
• Prostate cancer will overtake lung cancer to become the most common form of the disease in men within four years. (p. 25)
• There has been a 84% rise in incidence of testicular cancer in Britain since the late 1970s. The causes of this rise are unknown (p. 26)
• Death rates for the four biggest cancers in the UK – lung, breast, intestine and stomach – are all declining. (p. 27)
• Overall, around 70% of all childhood cancers are now successfully treated compared to less than 30% in the 1960s and for certain cancers the outlook is even better. (p. 28)
• Some people with cancer have decided to take complementary care instead of, rather than alongside, conventional medical care. (p. 39)
Confronting Cancer Study Guide
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.50
ISBN: 978 1 86168 248 2
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