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52
indicating that approximately one death in every five resulted from
some form of cancer. The following table shows the various sites
affected: —
Site Male Female Total Rate*
Cancer of stomach 35 21 56 0.24
„ „ lung, bronchus 140 21 161 0.70
„ „ breast 1 44 45 0.20
„ „ uterus - 15† 15 0.06
„ „ otherforms 151 113 264 1.15
Leukaemia 6 5 11 0.05
Totals 333 219 552 2.41
*Per 1,000 population
†Cancer of the Cervix—6 (rate 0.03)
LUNG CANCER—The persistent rise in total cancer deaths
throughout the country is due, in the main, to an increase in cancer
of the lung, deaths from which have been advancing at a rale of over
1,000 per year since 1960; indeed the present total of 28.826 for
England and Wales with a calculated rate of 0.59 indicates an
average yearly increase of 3.5% over the last decade. The Borough
rate of 0.70, a decrease of 0.12 from that for 1967, compares
favourably with that of 0.74 for Greater London, a conurbation
which has consistently returned a high figure while following the
national pattern.
Although death rates in the country for women who die from
lung cancer continue to increase, there are still five times as many
men as women who die from this cause. In Greenwich, however,
the rate for women fell from 0.42 per 1,000 in 1967 to 0.18 in
1968 but the ratio of male to female deaths from this cause since
1965 remains at 4 to 1.
The accompanying table giving deaths from lung cancer in the
Borough since 1965 is included in order that current trends in this
disease may be studied: —