Cancer

Introduction

After circulatory disease, cancer is the biggest cause of death in Somerset, in line with the national picture.  Cancer also tends to be responsible for deaths at a younger age than circulatory disease.  The risk of many cancers or their onset can be delayed or prevented by healthy lifestyles.

Cancer Prevalence

The prevalence of cancer (number of people with the condition) based on the number of patients recorded on the GP Practice cancer registers in Somerset is 3.4% (19,432 people) in 2016/17. This is significantly higher than the England average of 2.6%, but is at least partly related to the relatively elderly population of the county.  The number of people recorded by GP Practices in Somerset has significantly increased over the past five years up from 2.6% ( (14,249) in 2012/13.  A similar pattern has been seen across England.  Source: Public Health England Cancer Services

Cancer Incidence

The England age standardized rate for all tumours in 2018 was 613/100,000; Somerset's standardized rate was lower, at  603/100,000, but this is not statistically significant. 

- ' indicates small numbers that cannot be reported. Only Prostate (male) and Kidney (female) are significantly different from England.  There are no significant changes since the 2014-16 period.

Source: Cancerdata

Cancer Mortality 2018

Cancers cause more deaths in Somerset than any other condition type apart from circulatory diseases. In 2018, there were 1,667 deaths caused by cancers in Somerset.

' - ' indicates small numbers that cannot be reported.

Source: Cancerdata

Skin Cancer

For detailed information about skin cancer, please click here.

Cancer Survival rates

Overall one year survival rates, in 2018, for Somerset were higher than the national average.  One year survival rates for three major cancer types are shown below.

Cancer screening

There were 55,769 females in Somerset screened for breast cancer in 2017. This represents 77.9% of the eligible population and was significantly above the England average (75.4%).

There were 100,567 females in Somerset screened for cervical cancer in 2017. This represents 74.3% of the eligible population and was significantly above the England average (72.0%).

There were 64,030 people in Somerset screened for bowel cancer in 2017. This represents 62.7% of the eligible population and was significantly above the England average (58.8%).

Despite being better than the England average, there has been a significant decline in screening coverage across all measures in Somerset over the past five years.  Cancer screening since 2020 has been affected by the Covid pandemic.

HPV Vaccination

Having the HPV vaccine reduces the risk of getting cervical cancer by over 70%. Uptake of HPV vaccination in Somerset is increasing – in 2013/14 academic year, the proportion of eligible girls (12-13 year-olds) receiving all three doses of the vaccination rose from 91% to 92.5%, above the England average of 86.7%. In Somerset in 2012/13 waiting times for initial tests and subsequent treatment for cancer were similar to the England average.

See also Sexual Health

Cancer incidence amongst people aged 0-24

During 2018 the rate of cases per person per year for this age group in Somerset was 21.8. This was higher than the England figure (18.3) but not significantly so in statistical terms.

Cancer survival rates amongst children (England)

For children (aged 0 to 14 years) diagnosed with cancer, estimates of 1-year survival have improved between 2002 and 2019. This increasing trend is also reflected in each group: 0 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years and 10 to 14 years. For 5-year and 10-year estimates, survival for children aged 0 to 14 years generally improved in the earlier years in the period 2002 to 2019, with smaller increases from 2012 to 2019. This trend was observed in each group.

Source: Office for National Statistics (released 2020)