Cancer Registration Statistics, England, 2021 - Full release

This publication includes estimates of cancer incidence by Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The IMD is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England and is based on the postcode of residence at diagnosis. The 2019 IMD was grouped into quintiles, which were weighted so that the quintiles were equal in terms of the number of Lower-layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs). 

Estimates for most main and detailed cancer groups suggest that incidence is higher in the most deprived quintiles for both males and females. Small cell lung cancer has some of the biggest proportionate changes between quintiles for both males and females.

Figure 4 shows the age-standardised cancer incidence rate for small cell lung cancer for males and females. The rates are 4 times higher for females living in the most deprived areas (12 per 100,000) when compared with the least deprived areas (3 per 100,000). For males it was 3 times higher living in the most deprived areas (12 per 100,000) when compared with the least deprived areas (4 per 100,000). 

Although for most cancers the age-standardised cancer incidence rate is highest for people living in the most deprived areas, there are some cancers where the rate is highest for people living in the least deprived areas. For example, prostate cancer, breast cancer, melanoma of skin, and non melanoma skin cancer. 

Figure 5 shows that for both males and females, the age-standardised cancer incidence rate for people with melanoma living in the least deprived areas was over twice as high as the rate for people living in the most deprived areas. For males, the rate was 20 per 100,000 people living in the most deprived areas and 41 per 100,000 people living in the least deprived areas. For females, the rate was 17 per 100,000 people living in the most deprived areas and 35 per 100,000 people living in the least deprived areas. 

Figure 6 presents the age-standardised cancer incidence rates in 2021 for both males and females diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and other high grade mature B-cell neoplasms, one of the most common forms of blood cancer. Although the rates of diagnosis differ between males and females, the estimates of DLBCL by quintile for each gender are similar.  

Other detailed groups showing similar patterns include acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, essential thrombocythaemia and non-benign endocrine cancers of the brain and central nervous system.