Eye cancer incidence statistics

Cases

New cases of eye cancer each year, 2017-2019 average, UK.

 

Proportion of all cases

Percentage eye cancer is of total cancer cases, 2017-2019, UK

 

Age

Peak rate of eye cancer cases, 2017-2019, UK

Trend over time

Change in eye cancer incidence rates since the early 1990s, UK

 

Eye cancer is not among the 20 most common cancers in the UK, accounting for less than 1% of all new cancer cases (2017-2019).[1-4]

In females in the UK, eye cancer is not among the 20 most common cancers (less than 1% of all new female cancer cases). In males in the UK, it is not among the 20 most common cancers (less than 1% of all new male cancer cases).

47% of eye cancer cases in the UK are in females, and 53% are in males.

Eye cancer incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rate Open a glossary item) for persons are significantly lower than the UK average in Scotland and are similar to the UK average in all other UK constituent countries.

For eye cancer, there are few established risk factors therefore differences between countries largely reflect differences in diagnosis and data recording.

Eye Cancer (C69), Average Number of New Cases Per Year, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2017-2019

  England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland UK
Female Cases 353 27 23 13 416
Crude Rate 1.2 1.0 1.5 1.4 1.2
AS Rate 1.3 0.9 1.4 1.4 1.2
AS Rate - 95% LCL 1.2 0.7 1.1 1.0 1.2
AS Rate - 95% UCL 1.3 1.1 1.7 1.9 1.3
Male Cases 400 30 27 9 466
Crude Rate 1.4 1.1 1.7 0.9 1.4
AS Rate 1.6 1.2 1.8 1.1 1.5
AS Rate - 95% LCL 1.5 1.0 1.4 0.7 1.5
AS Rate - 95% UCL 1.7 1.5 2.2 1.5 1.6
Persons Cases 754 57 50 22 883
Crude Rate 1.3 1.0 1.6 1.2 1.3
AS Rate 1.4 1.1 1.6 1.3 1.4
AS Rate - 95% LCL 1.3 0.9 1.3 1.0 1.3
AS Rate - 95% UCL 1.5 1.2 1.8 1.6 1.4
95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate Open a glossary item

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C69.

Last reviewed:

In the UK in 2017-2019, on average each year more than a fifth of new cases (22%) were in people aged 75 and over.[1-4]

Age-specific incidence rates initially peak between age 0-4, then drop and remain stable until age 20-24. Rates for males keep increasing after that, for females start to fluctuate from age 65-69. The highest rates are in the 85 to 89 age group for females and the 90+ age group for males.

Incidence rates are similar between females and males in most age groups.

Eye Cancer (C69), Average Number of New Cases per Year and Age-Specific Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2017-2019

Childhood cancer usually has no known cause. For eye cancer in adulthood, increasing incidence with age largely reflects cell DNA damage accumulating over time. Damage can result from biological processes or from exposure to risk factors. A drop or plateau in incidence in the oldest age groups often indicates reduced diagnostic activity perhaps due to general ill health.

 

See also

Eye cancer mortality statistics by age

Eye cancer survival statistics by age

All cancer incidence statistics by age

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 2017-2019, ICD-10 C69.

Last reviewed:

Eye cancer European age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates for females and males combined increased by 30% in the UK between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.[1-4] The increase was of a similar size in females and males.

For females, eye cancer AS incidence rates in the UK increased by 29% between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019. For males, eye cancer AS incidence rates in the UK increased by 27% between 1993-1995 and 2017-2019.

Over the last decade in the UK (between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019), eye cancer AS incidence rates for females and males combined increased by 37%. In females AS incidence rates increased by 41%, and in males rates increased by 34%.

Eye Cancer (ICD-10 C69), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Persons Population, 1993 to 2019

Eye cancer incidence rates have varied between age groups in females and males combined in the UK since the early 1990s.[1-4  Rates in 0-24s have remained stable, in 25-49s have increased by 49%, in 50-59s have increased by 36%, in 60-69s have increased by 45%, in 70-79s have remained stable and in 80+s have remained stable.

Eye Cancer (ICD-10 C69), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, By Age, UK, 1993-2019

For eye cancer there are few established risk factors, therefore increasing incidence in the 1980s and 1990s may largely reflect improvements in diagnosis and data recording.

References

  1. England data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England, on request through the Office for Data Release, January 2023. Similar data can be found here: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/ 

  2.  Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) on request, October 2021. Similar data can be found here:http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/. 

  3. Welsh data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-reporting-tool-official-statistics/ June 2022. 

  4. Scotland data were provided by the Scottish Cancer Registry, Public Health Scotland (PHS) on request, May 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/show-all-releases?id=20468

About this data

Data is for UK, 1993-2019, ICD-10 C69.

Last reviewed:

The number of new eye cancer cases on average each year in the UK is projected to rise from around 1,300 cases in 2023-2025 to around 2,100 cases in 2038-2040.[1]

Eye cancer incidence rates are projected to rise by 50% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 3 cases per 100,000 people on average each year by 2038-2040.[1] This includes a larger increase for females than for males.

For females, eye cancer European age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item incidence rates in the UK are projected to rise by 62% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 3 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1] For males, AS rates are projected to rise by 38% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to 3 cases per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1]

Eye cancer (C69), Observed and Projected Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, by Sex, UK, 1993-2040

Download the data table (xlsx)

See also

Find out how these projections were calculated

Incidence trends over time for eye cancer

Projections of incidence for all cancers combined

Eye cancer risk

Download the projections data table

References

Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, February 2023. Age-period-cohort modelling approach described here, using 2020-based population projections (Office for National Statistics) and observed cancer incidence (1975-2018 for England, Scotland and Wales, 1993-2018 for Northern Ireland).

About this data

Projections are based on incidence data from 1975-2018 (England, Scotland and Wales) and 1993-2018 (Northern Ireland); the above figure presents all UK data from 1993-2018 (observed) and 2019-2040 (projected). Number of new cases and age-standardised rates are presented as annual averages for each 3-year rolling period. ICD-10 codes C69.

Projections are based on observed incidence rates and therefore implicitly include changes in cancer risk factors and diagnosis. Confidence intervals are not calculated for the projected figures. Projections are by their nature uncertain because unexpected events in future could change the trend. It is not sensible to calculate a boundary of uncertainty around these already uncertain point estimates. Changes are described as 'increase' or 'decrease' if there is any difference between the point estimates.

More on projections methodology

Last reviewed:

The most common specific location for eye cancers in the UK is the choroid (2016-2018).[1-4] Variation of incidence by anatomical site may reflect the physical size of each site, and differences in risk factor exposure by site, among other factors.

Download this data

Cases and percentages may not sum due to rounding

See also

Find out more about the counting and coding of this data

References

  1. Data were provided by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (part of Public Health England), on request through the Office for Data Release, July 2021. Similar data can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, April 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications.
  3. Data were published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, Health Intelligence Division, Public Health Wales, March 2021. https://phw.nhs.wales/services-and-teams/welsh-cancer-intelligence-and-surveillance-unit-wcisu/cancer-incidence-in-wales-2002-2018/.
  4. Data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, June 2020. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/

About this data

Data is for UK, 2016-2018, ICD-10 C69. For some cases the specific location of the cancer is not recorded, this may be due to clinical or data recording factors.

Last reviewed:

Eye cancer incidence rates (European age-standardised (AS) rates Open a glossary item) in England in females are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least, and in males are similar in the most deprived quintile compared with the least (2013-2017).[1]

See also

Data table: Cancer incidence rates and excess cases by cancer type in England

Incidence by deprivation for all cancer types combined

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Scotland

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Wales

Cancer incidence by deprivation for Northern Ireland

References

  1. Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, April 2020. Based on method reported in National Cancer Intelligence Network Cancer by Deprivation in England Incidence, 1996-2010 Mortality, 1997-2011 . Using cancer incidence data 2013-2017 (Public Health England) and population data 2013-2017 (Office for National Statistics) by Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015 income domain quintile, cancer type, sex, and five-year age band.

About this data

Data is for England, 2013-2017, ICD-10 C69.

Last reviewed:

Cancer stats explained

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Cancer stats explained

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many organisations across the UK which collect, analyse, and share the data which we use, and to the patients and public who consent for their data to be used. Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics.