Cancer statistics: Oesophagus

Oesophageal cancer: Incidence

Oesophageal cancer is the ninth most common cancer in the UK. In 2008, 8,171 cases of oesophageal cancer were diagnosed.

Of these cancer cases, 5,461 were in men, and 2,710 were in women.

Oesophageal cancer: Mortality

Oesophageal cancer is the sixth most common cause of cancer death in the UK. In 2009, there were 7,569 deaths from oesophageal cancer.

Of these deaths, 5,103 were men and 2,466 were women.

Proportion preventable

By far the most important thing for reducing risk of oesophageal cancer is not smoking. But scientists also estimate the following proportion of oesophageal cancer cases could be prevented in the UK:

Lifestyle factor	Does doing more increase or decrease risk?	Approximate % preventable in UK through healthy changes
Non-starchy vegetables	Decrease	21
Fruits	Decrease	5
Alcohol	Increase	51
Body fatness	Increase	31
Total		75

The evidence also shows that maté, a hot drink popular in South America, also probably increases risk.

You can find out more about how these preventability estimates were calculated. For detailed information about what change would be needed for each factor, download Appendix A of the Policy Report on the Diet and Cancer Report website.

The figures on incidence and mortality come from the following sources: for England (incidence); for Wales (incidence); for England and Wales (mortality); for Scotland; and for Northern Ireland.