Obesity blamed for rise in womb cancer cases

A DRAMATIC rise in the number of women diagnosed with womb cancer means deaths have risen by almost 20 per cent in the last decade, figures suggest.

Obesity is a key driver behind the increase in diagnoses, at least doubling the risk of the disease, experts said.

Incidence of womb cancer has risen 43 per cent since the mid 1990s, from 13.7 to 19.6 per 100,000 women in the UK.

Before this point, the chance of developing womb cancer had been constant for at least 25 years and death rates had been declining, according to Cancer Research UK.

But since the late 1990s, the death rate has risen from 3.1 to 3.7 per 100,000 in the UK.

This means more than 1,900 women are now dying from the disease each year, compared to fewer than 1,500 at the turn of the millennium.

Sara Hiom, director of information at Cancer Research UK, said: “Maintaining a healthy body weight can halve a woman’s risk of womb cancer and is one of the best ways to protect against the disease.”