Home / Critical illness cover / - Cancer
Background information
1 in 3 people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetime.
1 in 4 people will die from cancer.
Out of more than 200 different types of cancer, 4 - lung, breast, colorectal and prostate - account for over half of all new cases.
(Non-melanoma skin cancer is excluded from these figures.)
(Cancer Research UK , 2002)
A quarter of a million people in the UK will contract cancer this year.
More than half the people who contract cancer of the breast, cervix, larynx, testis, uterus, or malignant melanoma, will survive for a minimum of 5 years.
Survival rates for many other cancers are also improving.
( Munich Re, 2002)
It is estimated that 1 woman in 9 will develop breast cancer at some point in her life.
In 1997 38,000 women were newly diagnosed with breast cancer - and new cases are steadily increasing year on year.
On average 60% of women diagnosed with breast cancer will still be alive 5 years later.
(Breast Cancer Campaign, 2002)
In 2000, over 150,000 people died from cancer. That's one person every 3 and a half minutes.
In 2000, more men and women died from lung cancer than any other type of cancer - 20,600 men and 13,000 women. That's almost 100 deaths every day.
(Office for National Statistics, 2001)
Definition
Any malignant tumour characterised by the uncontrolled growth and spread of malignant cells and invasion of tissue. The term cancer includes leukaemia and Hodgkin’s disease but the following are excluded:
- all tumours which are histologically described as pre-malignant, as non-invasive or as cancer in situ;
- all tumours of the prostate unless histologically classified as having a Gleason score greater than six or having progressed to at least TNM classification T2N0M0;
- any skin cancer other than invasive malignant melanoma.
What does this mean?
Cancer is a malignant tumour or a malignancy. It causes uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells which invade, damage and destroy surrounding bodily tissue. These cells can then spread and cause damage to other parts of the body.
Non-invasive or cancer in situ is a very early stage cancer which has not invaded surrounding tissue and has not spread throughout the body. Treatment is relatively easy and successful. Cancers in situ are therefore not covered.
In line with Government policy, screening for prostate cancer will become widely available to men in the not too distant future. The key purpose of this screening is to detect prostate tumours at a much earlier stage than at present – before they cause any noticeable symptoms and when the illness can be more easily treated and cured. Accordingly, in line with the new ABI cancer definition, cover the less advanced prostate cancers is usually excluded.
More advanced and more aggressive cases (typically those that are currently detected) will continue to be covered. Most skin cancers are also easy to treat and are also excluded. However malignant melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer which can very quickly spread throughout the body. This form of skin cancer is therefore included.
03 April 2008 17:36:47
Dependence on nicotine could be down to a certain type of gene, scientists have claimed.
Researchers claim to have discovered a particular variant of a nicotine-receptor gene which affects smoking behaviour and confers a 30 per cent increase in risks of developing lung cancer and a 20 per cent increase in risks of developing peripheral artery disease.
Roughly half of the people of European descent carry at least one copy of this genetic variant, which does not influence smoking initiation, but makes it more difficult to quit, the scientists said.
Tobacco is the single largest cause of avoidable death in the European Union, accounting for over half a million deaths each year.
It is estimated that 25 per cent of all cancer deaths and 15 per cent of all deaths in the EU can be attributed to smoking.
Insurance companies recently revealed that smokers could reduce their life insurance premiums by up to 50 per cent if they quit the habit.
The research was undertaken as part of a European research project into genomics, mechanism and treatment of addiction which was funded by the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for research and the US National Institutes of Health.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
28 February 2008 17:33:51
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has indicated that a new technique could help the development of a preventative or therapeutic vaccine for HIV – which could have an impact upon life insurance premiums.
According to Medical News Today, the study conducted by the Scripps Research Institute included the development of glycodendrons aimed at inhibiting the transport of HIV within the body and setting up an antibody response to the virus.
Professor Chi-Huey Wong, chemistry Professor at Scripps Research, said: "This paper is about a new direction in HIV vaccine design. Results we have so far are very promising."
The breakthrough could revitalise efforts to produce a vaccine for HIV, given that a number of such treatments have failed clinical trials over the years.
According to the Department of Health, the introduction of drug therapies has helped to improve the lives of a significant number of people with HIV.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
30 June 2008 17:58:53
New research has revealed that the smoking ban, designed to help protect people from secondhand smoke may have helped 400,000 people give up the habit.
The research revealed that smoking fell by 5.5 per cent in the nine months after the ban, compared with just 9.9 per cent in the previous nine months.
Professor Robert West, who carried out the research at the Health Behaviour Research Unit, explained his surprise at the impact of the ban.
He said: "These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record. The effect has been as large in all social groups - poor as well as rich."
According to Jean King, director of tobacco control at Cancer Research UK, the results of the survey illustrate the fact that the ban is "saving lives".
There are now calls from tobacco pressure group ASH to introduce further measures to stop people smoking. Proposals include plans to ban people smoking in their own cars if their children are in there and removing all cigarette vending machines.
Primary lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK and 33,000 people die of the disease each year.
