Long Term Monitoring of Health Inequalities: Headline Indicators – October 2014

Annual update of the 'Long-term Monitoring of Health Inequalities' headline indicators.


Cancer incidence by type

Incidence rates by income-employment index decile are presented below for each of the four most common types of cancer.

Prostate cancer incidence rate (males only) aged under 75 years

Prostate cancer incidence has increased over time, with 95.6 new cases per 100,000 population in 2012 compared to 59.7 per 100,000 in 1997. Higher rates are observed in the least deprived areas, though this may be in part due to higher rates of testing in less deprived areas[8]. In 2012, the incidence rate was 113.2 per 100,000 in the least deprived areas, compared to 72.6 in the most deprived areas. Relative inequality has remained fairly low throughout the reporting period, with no clear trend.

Prostate cancer incidence trend tables

Scale/context

Number of new cases

Target population size

Rate per 100,000 (EASR)

1997

1,037

2,326,799

59.7

1998

1,113

2,321,135

63.7

1999

1,168

2,316,272

66.1

2000

1,180

2,309,161

66.5

2001

1,309

2,307,518

72.9

2002

1,509

2,306,786

82.7

2003

1,560

2,307,280

84.7

2004

1,737

2,312,963

92.1

2005

1,632

2,324,634

85.6

2006

1,723

2,334,922

89.4

2007

1,780

2,352,623

90.2

2008

1,906

2,367,934

94.8

2009

2,030

2,380,837

99.0

2010

1,925

2,392,701

91.7

2011

2,094

2,410,321

98.6

2012

2,076

2,413,137

95.6

Inequalities

  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
RII 0.43 0.41 0.41 0.57 0.52 0.45 0.49 0.23 0.32 0.38 0.48 0.40 0.43 0.32 0.39 0.42
Most deprived decile rate 42.9 50.5 60.7 51.4 52.6 73.5 69.7 79.1 84.1 79.9 76.7 80.1 70.5 81.4 88.6 72.6
Least deprived decile rate 77.0 86.5 96.1 88.8 89.3 115.5 109.6 97.4 119.2 117.0 112.8 120.2 126.7 115.2 132.6 113.2
Absolute range 34.1 36.0 35.3 37.3 36.7 42.0 39.9 18.2 35.1 37.1 36.1 40.0 56.3 33.8 43.9 40.6

The RII value has been italicised to indicate years in which higher incidence rates were observed in less deprived areas.

Breast cancer incidence rate (females only) aged under 75 years

Breast cancer incidence has increased throughout the reporting period, with 123.7 new cases per 100,000 population in 1997 compared to 143.6 per 100,000 in 2012. Incidence is more common in the least deprived areas, which ties in with evidence regarding the higher prevalence of certain breast cancer risk factors, such as lower parity, in less deprived populations[9]. The difference between rates in the most and least deprived areas has consistently been fairly low, but there has been fluctuation in both relative and absolute inequalities over time with no clear pattern.

Breast cancer incidence trend tables

Scale/context

Number of new cases

Target population size

Rate per 100,000 (EASR)

1997

2,654

2,413,470

123.7

1998

2,748

2,408,840

126.9

1999

2,847

2,405,026

130.4

2000

2,899

2,399,506

132.2

2001

2,736

2,396,143

124.0

2002

2,828

2,395,172

126.9

2003

2,978

2,395,151

132.4

2004

3,073

2,401,270

135.2

2005

3,089

2,410,686

134.7

2006

3,190

2,417,503

138.4

2007

3,191

2,430,829

136.8

2008

3,304

2,443,519

139.7

2009

3,387

2,454,170

141.5

2010

3,496

2,465,357

144.5

2011

3,558

2,477,995

145.9

2012

3,540

2,481,977

143.6

Inequalities

  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
RII 0.01 0.21 0.20 0.14 0.15 0.15 0.22 0.01 0.28 0.04 0.18 0.16 0.27 0.18 0.14 0.20
Most deprived decile rate 126.5 122.6 124.9 128.1 121.7 130.7 108.1 131.6 111.9 121.6 130.5 126.6 124.6 149.6 131.7 129.4
Least deprived decile rate 124.6 146.9 146.5 125.2 136.3 140.1 141.4 138.8 148.0 136.9 164.9 146.3 149.7 168.1 151.1 157.0
Absolute range 1.9 24.4 21.6 2.8 14.6 9.4 33.3 7.2 36.1 15.3 34.4 19.7 25.1 18.5 19.4 27.5

The RII value has been italicised to indicate years in which higher incidence rates were observed in less deprived areas.

Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung incidence rate aged under 75 years

Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung incidence rates have fallen since 1997, though there are still around 3,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The 2012 rate, 65.6 cases per 100,000 population, is the lowest in the reporting period. Levels of absolute inequality have fluctuated throughout this period with no clear trend, but with higher rates consistently observed in the most deprived areas. In 2012, the incidence rate in the most deprived areas was more than four times higher than in the least deprived areas (134.9 new cases per 100,000 population, compared to 30.6 per 100,000). Relative inequality has increased since 1997. Although it has been broadly stable since 2003, it reached its highest level in the time series in 2012.

Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung incidence trend tables

Scale/context

Number of new cases

Target population size

Rate per 100,000 (EASR)

1997

3,064

4,740,269

78.5

1998

3,090

4,729,975

78.8

1999

2,869

4,721,298

73.0

2000

2,877

4,708,667

72.7

2001

2,797

4,703,661

70.4

2002

2,920

4,701,958

72.9

2003

2,810

4,702,431

69.2

2004

2,890

4,714,233

70.4

2005

2,850

4,735,320

68.7

2006

2,891

4,752,425

69.3

2007

2,938

4,783,452

69.1

2008

2,935

4,811,453

68.0

2009

3,021

4,835,007

69.4

2010

2,949

4,858,058

67.0

2011

2,954

4,888,316

66.3

2012

2,985

4,895,114

65.6

Inequalities

  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
RII 1.29 1.30 1.35 1.28 1.21 1.36 1.59 1.42 1.51 1.53 1.51 1.58 1.52 1.59 1.46 1.62
Most deprived decile rate 142.7 138.5 129.2 129.8 125.0 130.1 136.1 141.4 124.7 143.1 139.7 136.6 136.3 134.1 127.9 134.9
Least deprived decile rate 35.1 33.3 35.2 37.6 36.3 39.6 27.5 32.7 31.4 34.8 31.2 30.7 33.2 32.3 32.7 30.6
Absolute range 107.7 105.2 94.0 92.2 88.7 90.5 108.6 108.7 93.3 108.4 108.4 105.9 103.2 101.8 95.3 104.3

Colorectal cancer incidence rate aged under 75 years

Incidence of colorectal cancer, at around 50 new cases per 100,000 population since 1997, has been stable over time. However, despite consistently low levels of both relative and absolute inequality, there has been variation in which areas are seeing the highest rates. Between 2009 and 2012, higher incidence was observed in the most deprived areas (for example, in 2012 there were 58.9 new cases per 100,000 population in the most deprived areas, compared to 47.0 per 100,000 in the least deprived). In some years (e.g. 2005) slightly higher incidence has been observed in the least deprived areas, while in others (e.g. 2000) the difference between rates in the most and least deprived areas has been negligible.

Colorectal cancer incidence trend tables

Scale/context

Number of new cases

Target population size

Rate per 100,000 (EASR)

1997

1,969

4,740,269

50.0

1998

2,026

4,729,975

51.3

1999

1,995

4,721,298

50.4

2000

2,127

4,708,667

53.4

2001

2,125

4,703,661

52.9

2002

2,027

4,701,958

50.0

2003

2,003

4,702,431

48.9

2004

2,006

4,714,233

48.5

2005

1,994

4,735,320

47.6

2006

2,043

4,752,425

48.4

2007

2,096

4,783,452

48.8

2008

2,333

4,811,453

53.7

2009

2,350

4,835,007

53.3

2010

2,401

4,858,058

53.9

2011

2,450

4,888,316

54.2

2012

2,321

4,895,114

50.4

Inequalities

  1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
RII 0.13 0.01 0.03 0.13 0.14 0.04 0.02 0.18 0.07 0.12 0.27 0.02 0.15 0.09 0.34 0.16
Most deprived decile rate 51.8 46.4 48.1 50.8 56.4 53.4 43.8 54.5 44.3 52.1 56.7 53.2 56.9 53.2 63.8 58.9
Least deprived decile rate 42.4 43.7 46.9 51.7 59.7 51.1 51.2 47.7 52.6 47.0 41.0 55.2 48.9 49.4 43.6 47.0
Absolute range 9.3 2.7 1.1 0.9 3.4 2.3 7.4 6.8 8.3 5.1 15.7 2.0 7.9 3.8 20.2 11.9

The RII value has been italicised to indicate years in which higher incidence rates were observed in less deprived areas.

Contact

Email: Craig Kellock

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