CANCER kills more people in Blackburn with Darwen than any other disease.

Newly-released data from Public Health England has revealed that, of 1,345 deaths registered, 346 people died from the disease in 2016, the most recent period for which data has been released.

That is 25.7 per cent of the deaths in Blackburn with Darwen, and the figure is up from 25.2 per cent in 2011, when 298 patients died from the condition.

The proportion of cancer deaths in Blackburn with Darwen is below the rate for England, where 28 per cent of the deaths were caused by all cancers in 2016.

Five years earlier, cancer was responsible for 29.1 per cent of deaths nationally.

Helen Rippon, chief executive of Worldwide Cancer Research, reckons the lower mortality rate from cancer in the country is a consequence of better tests and treatments, but there was still work to be done.

She said: “Some types of cancer have benefited incredibly from research, with a person’s chance of survival pushing upwards of 90 per cent. Others have not fared as well and survival rates are still as low as they were in 1970.

“Historically, less funding has been given to some types of cancer, which somewhat explains the discrepancies in survival rates.

“The proportion of deaths caused by cancer in the UK is slightly higher than seen in Europe as a whole, where cancer accounts for 20 per cent of all deaths.

“To understand why some places may have higher or lower numbers of people dying from cancer you need to be able to take everything into account, including dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors.”

After cancer, circulatory diseases, like hypertension, were the second deadliest illnesses in Blackburn with Darwen. A total of 25.5 per cent of deaths in the borough were caused by this, down from 31.5 per cent in 2011.

Jacob West, director of healthcare innovation at the British Heart Foundation, put this national trend down to the advancements in treating conditions.

He said: “Over the last 50 years we have seen advancements in treating conditions like heart attack and a decline in smoking.

“These factors play a significant role in a slight decline in death rates from circulatory disease, but we can’t get complacent.

“Progress has slowed since 2011 and 150,000 people still die from these diseases in the UK each year."