The number of teenagers and young adults dying from cancer in the U.K. has halved since the 1970s, according to a report from Cancer Research UK. Deaths fell from about 580 per year to 300 in this age group, while the largest drop was in those with leukaemia. Cancer is still the main cause of death from any disease in teenagers and young adults with only transport accidents accounting for more deaths in this age group. The report, Cancer Statistics Report: Teenage and Young Adult Cancer, estimated that about 2,100 young people aged 15-24 years old are diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.K. But in the past 30 years, death rates have fallen in young men from 88 deaths per million (in 1975-1977) to 44 deaths per million (in 2008-2010) and in young women from 61 deaths per million to 31. Leukaemia deaths among teenagers and young adults have seen the greatest drop since 1995 in the U.K. - from an average of 54 per year to 39 in 2006-2010 in young males and from 38 to 21 deaths per year among females. Brain tumours were the most common cause of cancer deaths in this age group between 2008 and 2010.
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