Five year survival from breast cancer is lower in deprived areas, says UK report

Women living in deprived areas of the United Kingdom are less likely to survive breast cancer because their illness is diagnosed at a later stage than it is among women in the most affluent areas, warns a new report.

The report details how the route to diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and survival, is affected by women’s level of deprivation. It was produced by the National Cancer Intelligence Network, a UK initiative to drive up standards in care of patients with cancer.

Survival at five years among women living in the UK’s most deprived areas who presented with symptoms of breast cancer was 68%, a fifth lower than survival among women in the least deprived areas (83%).

But the results also showed a marked relation between breast cancer incidence and deprivation, with 14-17% of breast cancers being diagnosed in …