A recent study has found that premature deaths from cancer cost the UK economy £10.3 billion annually, more than any other health issue.
According to Cancer Research UK (CRUK), this figure reflects the 350,000 years of lost productivity every year as working-age adults die before their expected lifespan due to cancer.
On average, each early cancer death translates into an economic loss of £61,000. This is the first time the charity has estimated the financial impact of cancer’s rising incidence and mortality on the nation.
Lung cancer alone imposed an economic burden of £1.7 billion, the highest of any cancer type, followed by bowel cancer at £1.2 billion and breast cancer at £800 million. These cancers are responsible for the greatest number of deaths among younger adults, resulting in more years of working life lost.
Among people aged 50 to 64, the impact is particularly severe, with 167,000 years of productivity lost each year, amounting to £5.1 billion in economic costs.
These figures underline the importance of delivering early diagnoses to patients, which would increase survivability and mean fewer economically productive lives are lost to cancer. Ensuring a greater range of innovative diagnostics are available across numerous settings is a way of achieving this, and has been a key point of BIVDA advocacy for many years.
