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A cancer scientist has called for more research into cancer after figures showed a rise in the number of people diagnosed with the disease.
The number of people suffering from cancer has soared since the 1970s, a leading health charity has warned.
According to data released by Cancer Research UK:
- In 1975 around 295 of every 100,000 people were diagnosed with some form of cancer.
- This number rose to almost 400 by 2011.
- Cancer Research blamed an ageing population and lifestyle factors, like excessive drinking or being overweight for the rise.
- While the rates are going up, the number of people surviving the disease is also on the rise.
- In the 1970s just 23% of cancer patients survived for 10 years, this climbed to 46% in 2007.
The number of people diagnosed with some form of cancer reached almost a third of a million in 2011, Cancer Research have said.
More than 330,000 people were found to have the disease where as ten years ago 283,000 were diagnosed, the health charity said.
The charity said that the rates of diagnosis have soared by more than a third since the mid 1970s.
Britain's ageing population was one of the reasons behind the rise in cancer rates, according to the charity.
The overwhelming majority of cancer patients would like doctors to check their symptoms much sooner than they currently do, research suggests.
At least 88% of the 3,649 people who were quizzed by scientists from Bristol University, the University of Exeter Medical School and the University of Cambridge, said they wanted doctors to investigate their symptoms further.
The participants, all over 40, said they wanted further tests done even if there was only a 1% chance of having cancer.
There are no fixed thresholds in the UK, but in practice, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines suggest patients need to have symptoms which indicate a five per cent risk or higher before further tests for most cancers are carried out.
Dr Jonathan Banks, of Bristol University, said: "This large study provides a clear and comprehensive account of public preference for investigation for cancer."