Disease that’s claiming more and more middle-class victims

PROSTATE cancer is increasingly becoming a killer of middle- class men, official figures reveal.

Deaths from the disease are soaring in affluent parts of england but have seen an increase of less than 10 per cent in the poorest, according to the Office for National Statistics.

More than 11,800 men die from the disease in Britain every year, up from 9,500 in 1999. But new data shows the vast majority of that rise has been among the middle classes.

Prostate cancer deaths have risen 35 per cent among the richest half of england over the same period, compared with 9 per cent among the poorer half. Among the most deprived tenth of households, numbers have risen just 1 per cent.

Doctors believe this is because wealthier men have a longer life expectancy, and the risk of prostate cancer gets higher the older you get. Men are advised to be ‘more aware of the signs’ as they age.

experts said awareness campaigns and testing programmes should be targeted at more affluent areas in light of the findings. The ONS data divides england into more than 32,000 neighbourhoods and then ranks them according on a one-toten ‘Index of Multiple Deprivation’ scale. each of these areas were compared to information on death certificates.

Among the richest tenth of areas, 1,146 men died from prostate cancer in 2016, up 25 per cent from 913 in 1999. By comparison, deaths in the poorest tenth were virtually unchanged, with 694 in 2016, up just eight – 1 per cent – from 686.

For the richest half 5,699 died in 2016, up 35 per cent from 1999. In the poorest half there were 4,153 prostate deaths in 2016, up 9 per cent from 3,799.

Angela Culhane, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘Men over 50 are at a higher risk than younger men, so ... this may explain why the number of deaths ... in more affluent areas has increased faster.’