Eye cancer mortality statistics

Deaths

Deaths from eye cancer, 2017-2019, UK.

 

Percentage of all deaths

Percentage eye cancer contributes to total cancer deaths, 2017-2019, UK

 

Age

Peak mortality rate for eye cancer, 2017-2019, UK

Trend over time

Change in eye cancer mortality rates since the early 1970s, UK

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

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

47% of eye cancer deaths in the UK are in females, and 53% are in males (2017-2019).

Eye cancer mortality rates (European age-standardised Open a glossary item (AS) rates) in the UK are not significantly different between females and males (2017-2019).

Eye cancer mortality rates (European age-standardised Open a glossary item (AS) rates) for persons are similar to the UK average in all the UK constituent countries.

For eye cancer, mortality rates do not vary between UK constituent nations however incidence rates do vary between the UK constituent nations.

Eye Cancer (C69), Annual Average Number of Deaths, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Mortality Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, UK, 2017-2019

  England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland UK
Female Deaths 51 8 2 1 62
Crude Rate 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.2
AS Rate 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.2
AS Rate - 95% LCL 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.2
AS Rate - 95% UCL 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.2
Male Deaths 58 7 2 3 70
Crude Rate 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2
AS Rate 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.2
AS Rate - 95% LCL 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.2
AS Rate - 95% UCL 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.3
Persons Deaths 109 15 4 4 132
Crude Rate 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2
AS Rate 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2
AS Rate - 95% LCL 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2
AS Rate - 95% UCL 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.2
95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate Open a glossary item

See also

Eye cancer incidence statistics by sex and UK region

Eye cancer survival statistics

Cancer mortality statistics for common cancers in the UK

References

  1. Data were provided by the Office for National Statistics on request, November 2019. Similar data can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths.
  2. Data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, October 2019. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/index.asp.
  3. 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, 2017-2019, C69.

Last reviewed:

Eye cancer mortality is strongly related to age, with the highest mortality rates being in older people. In the UK in 2017-2019, on average each year around 4 in 10 deaths (39%) were in people aged 75 and over.[1-4] This largely reflects higher incidence and lower survival for eye cancer in older people.

Age-specific mortality rates rise steadily from around age 50-54 and more steeply from around age 80-84. The highest rates are in the 90+ age group for both females and males. Mortality rates are similar between females and males in most age groups.

Eye Cancer (C69), Average Number of Deaths per Year and Age-Specific Mortality Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, UK, 2017-2019

See also

Eye cancer incidence statistics by age

Eye cancer survival statistics by age

Cancer mortality statistics by age for all cancers

References

  1. England and Wales data were accessed from Nomis mortality statistics by underlying cause, sex and age, November 2021: Nomis mortality statistics by underlying cause, sex and age.
  2. Scotland data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, November 2021. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/index.asp(link is external).
  3. Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, February 2022. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/.
  4. Population data were published by the Office for National statistics, accessed July 2020. The data can be found here: Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, provisional: mid-2019.

About this data

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

Last reviewed:

Eye cancer age-standardised (AS) Open a glossary item rates for females and males combined decreased by 50% in the UK between 1971-1973 and 2017-2019.[1-4] The decrease was larger in females than in males.

For females, eye cancer AS mortality rates in the UK decreased by 55% between 1971-1973 and 2017-2019. For males, eye cancer AS mortality rates in the UK decreased by 47% between 1971-1973 and 2017-2019.

Over the last decade in the UK (between 2007-2009 and 2017-2019), eye cancer AS mortality rates for females and males combined remained stable. In females AS mortality rates remained stable, and in males rates remained stable.

Eye Cancer (C69), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, UK, 1971-2019

For most cancer types, mortality trends largely reflect incidence and survival trends. For example, rising mortality may reflect rising incidence and stable survival, while falling mortality may reflect rising incidence and rising survival.

Eye cancer mortality rates have decreased overall in all broad age groups in females and males combined in the UK since the early 1970s.[1-4] Rates in 0-24s have decreased by 72% (though the absolute change is very small as rates are overall low in this age group), in 25-49s have decreased by 50%, in 50-59s have decreased by 58%, in 60-69s have decreased by 52%, in 70-79s have decreased by 51% and in 80+s have decreased by 38%.

Eye Cancer (C69), European Age-Standardised Mortality Rates per 100,000 Persons Population, By Age, UK, 1971-2019

See also

Eye cancer incidence trends over time

References

  1. England and Wales data were accessed from Nomis mortality statistics by underlying cause, sex and age, November 2021: Nomis mortality statistics by underlying cause, sex and age.
  2. Scotland data were provided by ISD Scotland on request, November 2021. Similar data can be found here: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/index.asp(link is external).
  3. Northern Ireland data were provided by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry on request, February 2022. Similar data can be found here: http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/.
  4. Population data were published by the Office for National statistics, accessed July 2020. The data can be found here: Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, provisional: mid-2019.

About this data

Data is for UK, 1971-2019, C69.

Cancers in children and young people (aged 0-24) are best classified using a different system to cancers in adults, so the figures presented here may not correspond with those elsewhere.

Last reviewed:

It is projected that the average number of deaths from eye cancer in the UK every year will rise from around 140 deaths in 2023-2025 to around 190 deaths in 2038-2040.[1]

Eye cancer mortality rates are projected to rise by 16% in the UK between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to less than 1 death per 100,000 people on average each year by 2038-2040.[1] This includes a similar increase for males and females.

For females, eye cancer European age-standardised (AS)  Open a glossary itemmortality rates in the UK are projected to rise by 12% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to less than 1 death per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1] For males, AS rates are projected to rise by 19% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040, to less than 1 death per 100,000 per year by 2038-2040.[1]

Eye cancer (C69), Observed and Projected Age-Standardised Mortality Rates, by Sex, UK, 1975-2040

Download the data table (xlsx)

See also

Find out how these projections were calculated

Mortality trends over time for eye cancer

Projections of mortality for all cancers combined

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 mortality data (1975-2018).

About this data

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

Projections are based on observed mortality rates and therefore implicitly include changes in cancer risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. 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:

Cancer stats explained

See information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.

Cancer stats explained

Citation

You are welcome to reuse this Cancer Research UK content for your own work.
Credit us as authors by referencing Cancer Research UK as the primary source. Suggested styles are:

Web content: Cancer Research UK, full URL of the page, Accessed [month] [year].
Publications: Cancer Research UK ([year of publication]), Name of publication, Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when reused unaltered): Credit: Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when recreated with differences): Based on a graphic created by Cancer Research UK.

When Cancer Research UK material is used for commercial reasons, we encourage a donation to our life-saving research.
Send a cheque payable to Cancer Research UK to: Cancer Research UK, 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ or

Donate online

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.