Cancer brings a lot of worry and fear, we all know that it can be both painful and fatal. However, it is important to remember that more and more people are successfully being treated for cancer. Now that screening is detecting more cancers at an early stage, it is more likely than even to be curable.

Statistics on causes of death

Government statistics show that the most common cause of death for people aged 50 to 64 was cancer. Overall, 39 per cent of male deaths, and 53 per cent of female deaths in this age group were due to cancers. Lung cancer was the most common cause of cancer death for men in this age group and breast cancer was the most common cause for women. For those over the age of 65, circulatory diseases are the most common cause of death. Within this age group, heart disease as a cause of death decreases with age, and strokes increase. Pneumonia as a cause of death also increases with age to account for one in ten deaths among those aged 85 and over.