UK Young cancer deaths 'halved in last 30 years'

The number of teenagers and young adults dying from cancer in the UK has halved since the 1970s, according to a report from Cancer Research UK.

Deaths fell from about 580 per year to 300 in this age group while the largest drop was in those with leukaemia.

More specialised treatments are likely to be behind the trend, the report said.

However, a teenage cancer expert said more young people should be enrolled on clinical trials.

Cancer remains the main cause of death from any disease in teenagers and young adults. Only transport accidents account for more deaths in this age group.

The report, Cancer Statistics Report: Teenage and Young Adult Cancer, calculated that about 2,100 young people aged 15-24 years old are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK.

But in the past 30 years or so, death rates have fallen in males from 88 deaths per million (in 1975-1977) to 44 deaths per million (in 2008-2010) and in females from 61 deaths per million to 31.

Leukaemia
Leukaemia deaths among teenagers and young adults have seen the greatest drop since 1995 in the UK - from an average of 54 per year to 39 in 2006-2010 in young males and from 38 to 21 deaths per year among females.

Brain tumours were the most common cause of cancer deaths in this age group between 2008 and 2010.

Simon Davies

Simon Davies, chief executive of Teenage Cancer Trust, said he was pleased by the figures but wanted to see greater improvements.

"More investment in rare cancer research is urgently needed. We want to work with Cancer Research UK and the pharmaceutical industry to ensure better access to clinical trials for young people with cancer."

The report said that less than 20% of patients aged 15-24 with cancer take part in clinical trials, compared to 50-70% of child cancer patients under 15 in the UK.

It added that broadening access to clinical trials was essential to improve knowledge of the best treatments for cancers.

Dr Harpal Kumar

Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said more needed to be done to make treatments kinder and more effective.

"Drug development and clinical trials are at the heart of helping more teenagers and young adults both survive cancer and live a full life after their treatment.

"Too many young people are left out of clinical trials due to rigid age restrictions and this must change for us to continue to see improvements across all cancer types."

Those restrictions exist because there are potential dangers in giving young cancer patients adult doses of drugs, therefore researchers are often reluctant to develop trials which cover this age group. Children's cancer drug trials are also very specialised.

Although cancer mortality rates for young people are falling, the incidence of all types of teenage and young adult cancers combined has been rising since the 1990s.

The report was a collaboration between the North West Cancer Intelligence Unit, on behalf of the National Cancer Intelligence Network, and the Paterson Institute of Cancer Studies, at the University of Manchester.

UK LD Shock: Early death link to learning disabilities 'shocking'

UK People with learning disabilities die on average 16 years earlier than they should, due to NHS failings, according to official research.

The UK Department of Health, which commissioned the work, says this is unacceptable.

The deaths occur due to delays or problems investigating, diagnosing and treating illnesses.

The charity Mencap estimates 1,200 people with learning disabilities under NHS care die needlessly each year.

Avoidable deaths
The Bristol University researchers who carried out the work looked at all deaths over a two-year period at five primary care trust areas in the south-west of England.

This revealed that people with learning disabilities were more likely to have a premature death than those in the general population.

Women with learning disabilities died on average 20 years earlier than other women. Men with learning disabilities died 13 years sooner.

Dr Pauline Heslop

One of the researchers, Dr Pauline Heslop, said: "These are shocking findings and must serve as a wake-up call to all of us that action is urgently required.

"This report highlights the unacceptable situation in which people with learning disabilities are dying, on average, more than 16 years sooner than anyone else.

"The cause of their premature deaths appears to be because the NHS is not being provided equitably to everyone based on need."

Basing its statistics on the new research, the charity Mencap believes the failure to properly understand the health needs of people with learning disabilities results in 1,238 people in England dying needlessly each year.

Jan Tregelles

Mencap's acting chief executive Jan Tregelles, said: "A scandal of avoidable deaths on the scale of [that at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust] takes place every year for people with a learning disability in the NHS.

"These deaths, caused by poor care and delays in diagnosis and treatment, highlight the scale of discrimination faced by disabled patients in the NHS."

The Bristol University academics have made several recommendations, including:

• the creation of a review body to investigate the deaths of people with learning disabilities
• a named health professional to co-ordinate the care of those with multiple health needs
• improved guidelines on when a "do not resuscitate" order should be used

In a statement, the UK's (lack of) Care And Support Minister, Norman Lamb, said: "This important and sobering report highlights, yet again, the inequalities that people with learning disabilities face with regard to their health and care.

"It is just not acceptable that people with learning difficulties have such a high risk of dying prematurely.

"The findings from this report will feed into the work going on to address the issues identified from the Winterbourne abuse scandal and the Francis report into the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust scandal"

ADHD: UK NHS Guidelines (2008)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Diagnosis and management of ADHD in children, young people and adults

Description
The advice in the NICE guideline covers:

• the care, treatment and support that children, young people and adults with ADHD should be offered
• how families and carers can support people with ADHD.

It does not specifically look at:

• the treatment of children younger than 3 years
• the treatment of conditions other than ADHD.

Guidance documents

• Full guideline documents
• NICE guideline PDF format | MS Word format
• Quick reference guide PDF format
• NICE guidance written for patients and carers PDF format | MS Word format | Fformat MS Word
• CG72 Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): NICE guideline (web format)