Cancer as a Scottish Problem

Abstract

Cancer, responsible for about 1 death in 5 in Scotland, cost over £1 per head of population in 1965 and led to bed occupation of almost 2,000 bed years. Time lag (symptoms-doctor-hospital-treatment) is usuallv small. Age distribution is as in other European countries. Excluding accidents, cancer is the second most important cause of death in children. In relation to other countries Scotland's position is very poor and the lung cancer mortality in both sexes is the highest known. Lung cancer is the most important in males, breast cancer in females. Alimentary cancers come second in both sexes. In this century alimentary cancers increased till the thirties or forties and then declined. Cancers of pancreas, cervix uteri, ovary, prostate, kidney and bladder, together with leukaemia, have all increased. Cancer of the lung has increased elevenfold in women and fiftyfold in men. It now accounts for 9 to 12 per cent of all male deaths in cities and large towns