Over four millions deaths from cancer have been avoided in the European Union (EU) since the late 1980s, thanks to improvements in prevention, detection and treatments, a major new study has found.

The research also makes predictions for 2017 and notes than while fewer women will die from cancer in the EU this year than men, death rates are falling faster in men.

Using the latest data available, scientists from Italy, Switzerland and the US predict that compared with 2012, cancer death rates in men will fall by just over 8% this year (132 per 100,000 of the population), and 4% in women (84 per 100,000).

A total of 761,900 men and 611,600 women in the EU are predicted to die from cancer in 2017.

"Overall, fewer women than men will die from cancer, but the fact that the rate of decline is slower in women than in men essentially reflects the different trends in lung and other tobacco-related cancers between the two sexes.

"Death rates from lung cancer in women are still rising from their 2012 levels and we predict a rise of about 5% this year, whereas lung cancer death rates in men will decrease by 11%," explained lead scientist, Prof Carlo La Vecchia, of the University of Milan.

Overall, 275,700 men and women in the EU are predicted to die from lung cancer this year - that is around 20% of all cancer deaths.

The study looked at cancer death rates in all EU member states, including Ireland. They also focused on specific cancers, such as breast, lung, prostate and pancreatic cancer in the six largest countries - the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy.

The scientists predict that when it comes to these specific cancers, deaths will decline in all of them, except for pancreatic cancer and lung cancer in women

A total of 76,100 men and 43,800 women are predicted to die of pancreatic cancer in 2017. While this death rate is stable in men, it marks a 3.5% increase in women.

"There has been little progress in the detection, treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer and it is now the fourth highest cause of cancer death in both sexes.

"Although tobacco is a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer, it causes only about 15-20% of pancreatic cancers in most populations, and so there must be other contributory factors. The increased prevalence of overweight, obesity and diabetes, mostly in northern Europe, may be affecting the pancreatic cancer death rates unfavourably, and national governments and policy makers need to do more to tackle this problem," commented Prof La Vecchia.

However, over four millions deaths throughout the EU have been avoided since 1988, thanks to things such as reduced smoking rates, screening for certain cancers, better-targeted drugs and improved use of surgery and radiotheraoy.

"In 2017 alone, we predict that 253,915 deaths will be avoided in men and 107,780 in women due to the fall in death rates since 1988," Prof La Vecchia noted.

He said that the fact that four million deaths have been avoided over the last three decades ‘shows the effectiveness of strategies to prevent cancer and to detect and treat it better when it arises'.

"Apart from continuing to control tobacco use, policy makers should build on these past achievements by measures such as optimising colorectal cancer screening and the management of breast cancer, leukaemias and other cancers amenable to treatment.

"This needs to be done across the whole of Europe as there is still too much variation in death rates between countries, particularly between eastern and western Europe," Prof La Vecchia added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Annals of Oncology.