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56
Site Male Female Total Rate*
Cancer of stomach 35 18 53 0.23
„ „ lung, bronchus 147 37 184 0.79
„ „ breast - 47 47 0.20
„ „ uterus 9† 9 0.04
„ „ other forms 138 109 247 1.07
Leukaemia 7 7 14 0.06
Totals 327 227 554 2.39
* Per 1,000 population
†cancer of the cervix—5 (rate 0.02)
Nationally, the number of cancer deaths is rising mainly due
to the increase in cancer of the lung, deaths from which have been
advancing at a rate of over 1,000 per year since 1960. Indeed, the
present total for England and Wales, viz. 26,399, shows an increase
of more than 58% over the past ten years and gives a national rate
of 0.55 per 1,000 population. Although London has consistently
returned a high rate from this cause, its figure for 1965, namely,
0.70 is, nevertheless, slightly more favourable than the Borough
rate of 0.79.
Death rates for women who die from cancer of the lung continue
to increase but there are still five times as many men as women
dying from this cause.
Many causes of cancer are still not known with any certainty,
although in the last decade there have been remarkable advances
in the recognition and understanding of the disease. It is generally
considered to be a disease of middle and old age, although in more
recent times cases have begun to appear in younger age groups and,
as such, it is a disease which is rapidly becoming a serious impediment
to a healthy nation.
Modern research suggests that in some cases there may be a
relationship between inherited chromosomal abnormality and
myeloid leukaemia, and in others that climatic conditions may be
indirectly responsible for the appearance of some strains of antigenically
similar viruses which have been recovered from the bone
marrow of patients suffering from various leukaemias, the connection
between which, so far, has only been postulated. There is also
abundant evidence that cancer of the womb is linked with poor
hygiene and clearly this must constitute a challenge to health
staffs generally and to health visitors in particular, both of whom
are pledged to regard health education as top priority. In this
connection, it would not come amiss to mention the Family
Planning Association and its invaluable work in the use, among a
number of its patients, of diagnostic cytology.