Cancer lottery: Why the odds are still stacked against the poor

Cancer patients living in richer areas are significantly more likely to survive, official figures show.

One-year and five-year survival rates were worse in the 62 most deprived primary care trust areas.

The Office for National Statistics said that those living in regions such as Blackpool, Barnsley, Manchester, Cumbria and County Durham faced a worse prognosis than their more affluent neighbours.

The figures, from 1998-2003, showed that the rates are 'significantly lower' in the 'Spearhead' areas singled out in 2004 for special Government intervention to improve health and life expectancy.

Overall, one-year and five-year survival rates among men were lower in these areas for all the seven cancers analysed.

For women, the same was true for seven of nine cancers examined. However, survival in deprived areas was similar to the rest of England for cervical and ovarian cancer.

The largest differences between the Spearhead trusts and others were for cancers of the bladder and rectum.

The five-year survival rate for cancer of the rectum was 4.2 percentage points lower for men in Spearhead trusts (46.6 per cent compared with 50.8 per cent elsewhere).

The five-year survival rate for women with cancer of the rectum was 50.1 per cent in poorer areas, compared with 53.7 per cent elsewhere.

Breast cancer survival after five years was 78.2 per cent in the Spearhead PCTs compared with 79.8 per cent in others.

The latest figures come after a World Health Organisation report showed a link between social inequalities and huge variations in health and life expectancy.

It found a boy born today in the deprived suburbs of Glasgow will live on average 28 fewer years than one born in an affluent part of the city.

Professor Karol Sikora of Imperial College London, a leading cancer specialist, said that delays in treatment were partly responsible for poorer areas getting worse care.

He added: 'The initial stages in cancer-treatment are crucial and if you don't ask, you don't get.

'The service is not patient-friendly and people from wealthier parts of the country are fast-tracked because they have sharper elbows.

'The differences are more marked in Britain than European countries. And it's not getting better.'

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'Although the inequalities gap between the most deprived groups and the general population has got smaller, there is more that needs to be done to tackle inequalities.'

The genetic secrets of two of the most deadly cancers have been unlocked by scientists in a breakthrough which paves the way for a host of new treatments.

In the biggest study of its kind, researchers have found dozens of broken, missing and overactive genes that trigger the growth of potentially lethal tumours of the brain and pancreas.

The results help to explain why the cancers are so hard to treat with conventional drugs.

The results were published in online versions of the journals Science and Nature.