Less cancer in Cotswolds (From Cotswold Journal)

Less cancer in Cotswolds

2:30pm Tuesday 29th July 2008

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PEOPLE living in the Cotswolds are less likely to die of cancer than in other parts of Gloucestershire.

This is according to figures that show rural residents of the wealthy Cotswolds are less likely to die from the disease - or be diagnosed with it - than people living in less-affluent urban areas such as Gloucester.

The figures, supplied by English cancer registries and the Office for National Statistics, can be found on an on-line map that the National Cancer Intelligence Network has launched on its website - www.ncin.org.uk/eatlas This map, called the Cancer e-Atlas, is designed to give health professionals and the pubic the most detailed cancer statistics for their area.

It provides a breakdown of cancer incidence and mortality by local authority, along with survival rates for England’s most common cancers.

The map, which is free to access, shows an estimated 352 Cotswold people per 100,000 were annually diagnosed with cancer between 2003 and 2005, compared with 386 per 100,000 in Gloucester.

Its figures also show there are more lung cancer diagnoses and deaths in Gloucester than anywhere else in the county, although the city has the lowest breast cancer rate.

However, despite fewer people dying from cancer in the Cotswolds, the area has the highest prostrate cancer death rate.

Nicola Strother Smith - director of the Three Counties Cancer Network that covers Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire - welcomed the innovation because it will keep people more informed about cancer.

She said it proved there were good health-care services in the Cotswolds where people may have greater awareness of cancer and would therefore be more likely to consult a doctor when feeling poorly.

She added: “I think it’s a good idea.

“We will be working out how to use it.

“We would use this, along with many other tools, to help us plan cancer services.”

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