Stark inequalities in cancer rates across Wales revealed

Rhyl Journal

06-06-2025

The report by Public Health Wales' Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU) found that people's housing, job, and ethnicity impact cancer incidence rates.
To conduct the study, researchers linked all-Wales cancer registry data to Census data, using anonymising techniques to maintain confidentiality.
The researchers then analysed the data to determine how cancer rates differed across the Welsh population based on ethnicity, housing type, and job.
They found that people living in overcrowded housing had a cancer rate seven times higher than those with two or more spare rooms.
Similarly, residents living in social housing had cancer rates nearly three times higher than those owning their homes outright.
The study also revealed variances in cancer rates among different ethnic groups.
The White population showed the highest overall cancer rates, partly due to the older age of this group.
However, people from Mixed ethnic backgrounds were generally diagnosed at a later stage, which could potentially hinder cancer survival.
The study also showed that Black men and Asian women were more likely to be diagnosed with prostate and breast cancer, respectively.
The study shed light on the type of jobs and their connection with cancer incidence.
People in lower-paid and manual jobs, such as process, plant, and machine operatives, had the highest cancer rates.
They were also more likely to receive a late-stage cancer diagnosis compared to those in professional roles.
Professor Dyfed Wyn Huws, director of the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, said: "This is the first time we've been able to look at unfair inequalities in cancer rates through this level of detail using individual data across the whole of the Welsh population.
"It's a major step forward in understanding and reducing cancer inequalities in our society.
"It has enabled us to get a much greater level of detail of the socio-demographic factors at play, by looking at individual or household measures of inequality, rather than area-level analysis.
"It's a strong baseline for future work and a clear call to action to focus on where cancer and other health inequalities start."
Professor Huws added that in many parts of Wales, elements crucial to health and well-being, such as healthy homes, good jobs, sufficient income, community connections, education and skills, and safe, clean environments, are either lacking or inadequate.
He said: "Up to four in 10 cases of cancer are potentially preventable amongst the population of Wales as a whole.
"Preventing cancer and achieving earlier diagnosis is a priority for everyone in the system."
The study used linked data from the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit's national cancer registry and the 2011 Census, via Swansea University's SAIL Databank.