Cancer Publications and Reports
National analyses | Cancer type specific analyses
NCIN prepares national, sub-national and cancer type specific analyses in collaboration with partner organisations.
We also prepare data briefings (short documents highlighting one issue and written for a wider general audience), cancer information tools targeted at particular audiences and guidance documents to support health service and other users in understanding and using the available information.
A range of other data on cancer in the UK are available from other organisations.
National analyses
The North West Cancer Knowledge and Intelligence Team and NW Cancer Registry together provide the lead registry function for cancer in teenagers and young adults which is one of the National Cancer Intelligence Network’s (NCIN) twelve specialist cancer areas. Each lead intelligence and registry team supports a National Cancer Intelligence Network Site Specific Clinical Reference Group (NCIN SSCRG) for their respective specialist area or tumour site. One of the roles of these lead areas is to examine the completeness and quality of cancer registration data and other routine NHS datasets that form the basis of much of the cancer intelligence published by NCIN and others as well as informing many research projects.
The overarching goal of the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) announced in the Cancer Reform Strategy (Department of Health, 2007) is to coordinate and provide support to activities and research that promote the earlier diagnosis of cancer, thereby improving survival rates and reducing cancer mortality.
Diagnosis via an emergency presentation route rather than primary care referrals has been shown to be associated with poorer prognosis and a better understanding of what underpins this variation in diagnostic routes can help both inform awareness and early diagnosis initiatives, such as the NAEDI, and act as an indicator of their success.
Cancer survival in teenagers and young adults (TYA) has not been reported on as extensively as that in children or in those aged 50 years or older. Our recent report “ Survival in Teenagers and Young Adultswith Cancer in the United Kingdom” published by NCIN, looked at five year survival in teenagers and young adults.
Five year survival is used as a measure of effectiveness of treatment services and oneyear survival as a proxy measure of the proportion of patients presenting with late stage disease. The report found that survival for TYA cancer patients varies considerably by type of cancer and that this age group have worse five year survival as compared to the younger and older age groups for soft tissue sarcomas and bone tumours.
The NRCT is population-based for cases of cancer diagnosed among children aged under 15 years in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from 1962 onwards. Since 1993 ascertainment of cases in Northern Ireland has also been virtually complete, hence the NRCT is population-based for the whole of the UK from 1993 onwards. Cases are ascertained from national and regional cancer registries throughout the UK, from specialist children’s tumour registries in certain regions of England, from death certificates throughout Great Britain, from entries to clinical trials, and from the paediatric oncology principal treatment centres affiliated to the CCLG throughout the UK. Registration data are also collected from the CCLG centre in Dublin, thus providing complete coverage of CCLG patients throughout the British Isles.
The National Cancer Intelligence Network Lung cancer and mesothelioma site-specific clinical reference group covers neoplasms of the trachea, bronchus and lung as well as mesothelioma. Thames Cancer Registry investigates these cancers using data from the National Cancer Data Repository (NCDR). The NCDR contains information from the eight English cancer registries on all patients diagnosed with cancer in their respective catchment areas.
As recommended by the United Kingdom Association of Cancer Registries, cancer registries have in recent years based one of their performance indicators on the completeness of reporting of Clark’s level for melanoma. However it is now acknowledged that Clark’s level cannot be considered as a staging data item in its own right and following advice from the skin SSCRG the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system will apply for skin cancer henceforth (malignant melanoma, non melanoma skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and merkel cell). Breslow thickness, histological evidence of ulceration, mitoses, microsatellite, number of metastatic nodes, LDH level and metastasis to other organs will all be factors used in the final AJCC staging of malignant melanoma, representing complex data collection. However this year’s data quality report will remain based on the UKACR rules in place in 2008-2010 as 2011 data are not yet available.
This report provides the first robust examination of the actual number of patients in England diagnosed with cancer being notified to a principal treatment centre or Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG)1 centre in England. By matching TYAC notification data with the most current population based cancer registration data percentage notifications have been calculated for patients resident in England who were diagnosed 2009-2010. Characteristics and place of treatment of patients who have not been notified were also examined. These analyses were limited to patients resident in England as the level of patient identifiable data required for this analysis was not available for the other UK countries.
In this report, we analysed whether the rate of improvement in lung cancer survival was similar among males and females in the period 1999 to 2008, and assessed which factors may explain the difference in survival improvement between males and females over this period.
The use of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) is considered by many specialists to be a useful staging tool for patients diagnosed with melanoma and is utilised as such in clinical trials but has also been the focus of controversy. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node(s) to which cancer cells are most likely to spread via lymphatics from a primary tumour such as a melanoma. SLNB helps in the staging of the disease allowing an estimation of prognosis, and may help some patients avoid more extensive (and therefore more morbid) lymph node surgery at a later date (National Cancer Institute).
UK Biobank is a major, prospective, epidemiological study into the diseases of middle and older age. Since recruitment began in 2006, the project has created a database of person-level data for 500,000 adults aged 40-69, including annotated biological samples, and self-reported lifestyle and behavioural information. UK Biobank participants have also consented for this wealth of data to be linked with their routinely collected medical and health-related records. This additional information will strengthen UK Biobank as world-leading resource allowing for a diverse range of research into improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the illnesses of later life.
This report aims to explore the data quality and completeness of the upper gastrointestinal cancer dataset. It reports on data on patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2009 focusing on the most recent diagnosis year (2009).
Soft tissue sarcomas are a group of rare heterogeneous forms of cancer, which collectively account for approximately 1% of all malignancies diagnosed annually in England. These sarcomas develop from soft tissue cells including smooth muscle cells (leiomyosarcomas), fat cells (liposarcomas), fibrous connective tissue (fibrosarcomas), skeletal muscles (rhabdomyosarcomas), synovium (synovial sarcomas), blood vessels (angiosarcomas) and breast ducts (phyllodes tumours), and nerves (nerve sheath tumours).
A questionnaire was sent to all paediatric oncology principal treatment centres (PTCs) in the UK, asking for information about their practice of shared care during 1997-2009.
This is the first report to present national haematological cancer analyses at individual disease group level. Many haematological malignancies are rare and as such are difficult to analyse in a meaningful way at a sub-national level. This report provides an opportunity to look at incidence, mortality and survival for these and other haematological malignancies. The incidence and mortality data reported cover the period 2001 to 2008. The survival analyses cover a range of different time periods commencing in 1995 in order to allow survival trends to be identified. These data have been quality assured against a number of existing data sources as far as is possible. However, as there are no other national analyses available for many of these disease groups, the nearest equivalents have been used.
This document aims to provide an overview about cancer statistics, including information on the latest statistics publicly available and where to find them. This is intended to be a useful reference guide for infrequent users of cancer statistics or for audiences that may not be familiar with this information.
This report presents the latest time trends, trends by age and deprivation, and regional variations in incidence, mortality and survival for invasive ovarian cancer in England. There is also a separate section on these cases stratified according to their main morphological groups. A National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) Data Briefing, 'A profile of ovarian cancer in England' which highlights some of the key findings in this report, is available. This report and briefing have been produced by Trent Cancer Registry, the NCIN’s lead registry for gynaecological cancers, on behalf of the NCIN Gynaecological Site Specific Clinical Reference Group (SSCRG). These data should be of interest to all those involved in the commissioning and delivery of services to prevent, diagnose, and treat ovarian cancer.
Concerns have been raised in both clinical and research communities that traditional cancer registration systems are failing to ascertain a significant number of haematological malignancies. To investigate this possibility an evaluation comparing registration data held by the National Cancer Data Repository (NCDR) with that of a high quality specialist haematological population-based regional registry – the Haematological Malignancy Research Network (www.hmrn.org) – has been carried out.
The National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Site Specific Clinical Reference Group (UGI SSCRG) is responsible for analyses of national data for oesophago-gastric (OG) cancers (including oesophageal and stomach cancer) and primary hepatic, pancreatic and biliary cancers (including primary liver, biliary tract, gallbladder and pancreatic cancer). Thames Cancer Registry is the lead registry for the UGI SSCRG. Survival for patients with these cancer types is lower in England than in Europe. This report aims to investigate whether one-year survival for men and women in England has improved.
Rare urological cancers are defined here as cancer of the penis, testes, ureter & renal pelvis, plus bladder cancers of the non-transitional cell type and prostate cancer of the small cell type. Reports regarding these malignancies are uncommon, possibly due to their comparative rarity when compared with other malignancies. This report attempts to address this imbalance and be a source of information for clinicians, commissioners, charitable bodies and those with an interest in this group of tumours.To determine whether the incidence, mortality and survival rates for the rarer tumours is actually changing, and whether there is variation over the time periods studied, the NCIN Urology SSCRG has commissioned a breakdown report on these rare urological cancers in England.
Prostate cancer is the second biggest cancer killer for men, after lung cancer. In 2009 there were 10,292 prostate cancer deaths in the UK: 8,755 deaths in England, 205 in N. Ireland, 790 in Scotland and 542 in Wales. This compares to 19,319 deaths from lung cancer in men in the UK.
This report results from collaboration between the NHS Cervical Screening Programme and Trent Cancer Registry as the National Cancer Intelligence Network’s lead registry for gynaecological cancers. It shows the latest time trends, trends by age and deprivation, and regional variations in incidence, mortality and survival for invasive cervical cancer in England. There is also a separate section on these cases stratified according to their main morphological groups. It should be ofinterest to all those involved in the commissioning and delivery of services to prevent and treat cervical cancer.
Primary bone sarcomas are an exceptionally rare form of cancer, accounting for only 0.2% of all malignancies diagnosed in England. Primary bone cancers represent a challenge as they are rare and best practice guidelines state that they should be treated within high caseload centres. There are many different types of bone sarcoma, of which osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, chordoma and Ewing’s sarcoma are the most common and collectively account for over 85% of all tumoursdiagnosed. Other relatively uncommon bone sarcomas account for approximately 6% of malignancies diagnosed in patients under the age of twenty. There are few reports which examine the incidence and outcome of patients with a primary bone cancer. This report considers the four most common variants of bone sarcoma and presents incidence and survival data according to the age of the patient at diagnosis and the cancer site. Survival rates are also presented for the mainanatomical sub-sites.
There is evidence that outcomes in TYA cancer patients, as measured by survival rates, are sometimes not as good as those for children. Poorer survival for males than females have also been reported for certain types of cancer. In the light of this evidence, we decided to undertake a detailed study of survival rates in TYA with cancer in the UK, comparing these with outcomes in children and in adults diagnosed between 25 and 49 years of age. Outcomes are also compared by gender. This report has been written by NWCIS and the TYA National Intelligence Advisory Group, which is an informal group of interested clinicians and epidemiologists who support NWCIS in their TYA work.It has been produced under the auspices of the NCIN and the Childhood and TYA Clinical Reference Group.
This report describes the rationale, findings and recommendations of a pilot project undertaken on collection of data on recurrent and metastatic breast cancer. It is estimated that around 550,000 people are alive in the UK after a diagnosis of breast cancer, but it is unknown how many of them have recurrent or metastatic disease. The lack of information on recurrence and metastasis of breast cancer means that the effectiveness of treatments for primary cancers cannot be adequately assessed and the care of patients with recurrent and metastatic cancer cannot be fully evaluated. This makes it difficult to plan and resource services for this group of patients.
This supplement summarises some of the information and evidence that has been used to inform the development of the Improving Outcomes: A strategy for cancer and highlights the extent to which variations in the quality of cancer services and outcomes continue to vary.
This document highlights some of the information the NCIN (with its partners) has recently produced to help improve information on, and themeasurement of, cancer outcomes in the UK.
England | 2004-2006 | Percentage by age, sex and cancer network
This initial report on major surgical resections in England presents the percentage of NHS treated cancer patients who received a major resection as part of their treatment. The report contains results for thirteen cancer sites and covers patients diagnosed during 2004-2006 who were followed up to 2007. Percentages are presented by sex, age, deprivation quintile and cancer network, with funnel plots depicting both percentages and indirectly age-standardised ratios by cancer network. Cancer networks have been assigned by the residence of patients at time of diagnosis. These data provide a basis to instigate further exploration of major surgical resections for cancer patients and to encourage improved recording and sharing of data to allow further analyses to be produced.
An Excel spreadsheet of the OPCS4 codes used within this report is available.
A post on the Cancer Research UK Science Update Blog also discusses this work.
England by PCT | 1996-2009 and followed up to 2010 | All cancers survival index
This bulletin presents updated estimates of a cancer survival index at one year after diagnosis for all cancers combined in each of 151 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England, for patients diagnosed during 1996-2009 and followed up to 31 December 2010. The survival index is adjusted for differences in the profile of cancer patients by age, sex and type of cancer between PCTs.
Cancer survival by Primary Care Trust: charts, tables and maps
England by cancer network | 1996-2009 and followed up to 2010 | One and five year relative survival
This report presents one-year and five-year age-standardised net survival estimates (see background note 3) for the 28 Cancer Networks of England, for patients who were diagnosed with a cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, colon, lung, breast (women) or cervix during 1996–2009 and followed up to 31 December 2010. One-year survival estimates are reported for patients diagnosed in 1996, 2001, 2005 and 2009, and five-year survival for those diagnosed in 1996, 2001 and 2005.
Charts, tables and maps to accompany the release are also available from ONS.
UK by cancer network | 2006 | Crude and age standardised proportions
Cancer prevalence results for all cancers combined and for 22 common cancers. These UK figures are broken down by cancer network for England and Scotland with national estimates for Wales and Northern Ireland. These data show the variation in the number of males and females who are still alive up to one, five and ten years after a cancer diagnosis. Report prepared for Macmillan Cancer Support by Thames Cancer Registry.
You can also access the cancer prevalence information using our Prevalence e-Atlas. This is an interactive tool which uses maps, charts and data tables to display cancer prevalence data by cancer network for the UK.
In addition, one-year and five-year cancer prevalence estimates by PCT were previously calculated by Thames Cancer Registry. These estimates are available for all malignant neoplasms, breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers as of 31st December 2004. These data are available from the APHO website.
England | 2002-2006 | Incidence rate ratios and estimated ASRs
The first national analysis for twenty-one different cancer sites or groups, presenting cancer incidence by ethnic group in England. This report also includes data on cancer survival by ethnic group for the four largest cancer sites. Joint report with Cancer Research UK in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
UK | 2006 (incidence) 2007 (mortality) | Incidence and mortality rate ratios
This publication presents analyses of the increased cancer incidence and mortality rates in males compared to females. Joint report with Cancer Research UK, The Centre for Men's Health at Leeds Metropolitan University and the Men's Health Forum.
England | 1995-2004 | Excess cases and changes in ASR between deprivation quintiles
This report analyses twenty-four different cancer sites or groups and presents results showing the change in incidence rates between socio-economic quintiles, as well as estimating the excess cases caused by deprivation.
UK by cancer network | 2005 | Crude rates and ASRs
NCIN's first UK wide report showing differences in age-standardised incidence and mortality rates for twenty-two cancer sites or groups.
For more up to date information on cancer incidence and mortality, see the Cancer e-Atlas.
England by cancer network | 1985-2004 | England trends over time and cancer network funnel plots
Trends over time and funnel plots showing variations between cancer networks in one year relative survival rates for twenty two cancer sites or groups. Report prepared in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
For more up to date information on one year cancer survival, see the cancer survival by cancer network report.
UK | 2008 | Lifetime prevalence for all cancers and colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancers
Presentation giving estimates for cancer prevalence in England and the UK. Analysis conducted for Macmillan Cancer Support by Thames Cancer Registry.
For more detailed information on cancer prevalence, see Maddams, J. et al. Cancer prevalence in the United Kingdom: estimates for 2008. (2009), British Journal of Cancer. 101: 541–547. doi: doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6605148.
Cancer Type Specific Reports
UK | 2007 | Incidence, treatment and survival for screen-detected and symptomatic breast cancers with analysis by age, deprivation and route of presentation
A UK analysis of all symptomatic and screen-detected breast cancers diagnosed in 2007. Report prepared by West Midlands Cancer Intelligece Unit on behalf of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.
England | 1998-2008 | Incidence, mortality and survival
This national profile report was produced by Trent Cancer Registry, the National Cancer Intelligence Network’s lead registry in England for gynaecological cancers, in collaboration with the NHS Cervical Cancer Screening Programme.
An e-atlas of cervical screening and cancer is also available.
England | 2002-2006 | Incidence, mortality and survival
England wide report covering time trends and variations in incidence, mortality and survival for the main categories of head and neck cancers. Report prepared by Oxford Cancer Intelligence Unit.
England | 2010 | Cancer inequalities
This report was originally published in March 2010 as an annex to the National Cancer Equalities Initiative (NCEI) report Reducing cancer inequality:evidence, progress and making it happen
. It is republished here as a summary of the National Cancer Intelligence Network's work on cancer inequalities, supplemented where appropriate with references to other published work and the NCEI's visioning events.
UK | 2006 | Incidence, treatment and survival for screen-detected and symptomatic breast cancers with analysis by deprivation and ethnicity.
A UK analysis of all symptomatic and screen-detected breast cancers diagnosed in 2006. Report prepared by West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit on behalf of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.