The Endometrial Cancer Audit Pilot (ECAP) baseline report has been published. This report examines incidence, mortality and survival of women in England diagnosed with endometrial cancer between 2017 and 2019. It is the first report from the ECAP project.
Womb cancer (also known as uterine cancer) is the fourth most common cancer among females in the UK and the most common gynaecological cancer, with endometrial carcinoma being its most frequent type. Obesity is the main risk factor in womb cancer.
Using routinely collected data from the National Disease Registration Service, this report provides an overview of endometrial cancer, including how many people were diagnosed (incidence), how many died from it (mortality), the stage at diagnosis, and survival rates. The report also describes the distribution of patient and tumour characteristics, including deprivation (IMD), ethnicity, and tumour morphology.
Key Findings:
The incidence rate of endometrial cancer diagnoses in England has shown a steady increase since 2001 up to the period this report covers (2017-2019). This trend coincides with an increase in the number of adults living with obesity in the UK.
The number of new cases and deaths from endometrial cancer varied across different Cancer Alliances and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). The level of variation was greater than would be expected by chance, suggesting real differences between regions.
Among women diagnosed between 2017 and 2019, the stage at diagnosis varied depending on age and geography. Some of this variation may have been due to differences in data completeness across regions, but other factors could also have played a role.
Improving the quality and availability of cancer data for people diagnosed with endometrial cancer would help provide more accurate insights into this cancer across the country. This, in turn would support more informed clinical decision-making.