A major study of cancer has shown that death rates from leukaemia are falling in Europe among people of all ages.

The study by Italian, Swiss and US researchers involved an analysis of cancer rates in the EU's 28 member states, including Ireland. It revealed that death rates from most cancers are falling and the news is particularly good in relation to leukaemia.

The study looks at past death rates and future trends and it predicts that between 2009 and 2016, death rates from leukaemia among children aged 14 and under will fall by 38% in boys and 20% in girls. Among people aged between 15 and 44, deaths rates will fall by 26% in men and 22% in women.

The death rate among those aged between 45 and 69 is predicted to fall by 19%.

The study noted that acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the most frequent type of leukaemia diagnosed in children, teenagers and young adults, and its five-year-survival rate is now over 90%.

However, the study also noted that some types of the disease are still very difficult to treat, particularly those that are more commonly found in adults and older people.

The researchers believe that the improvement in deaths rates are down to a number of factors, including multi-drug chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and other treatments that have less toxic side-effects.

"Predictions of death rates from leukaemia are complicated by the fact that leukaemias are a varied collection of blood cancers, with some being more treatable than others.

"However, the important falls in overall death rates from this group of diseases are very encouraging and are a testament to the hard work of researchers and clinicians in developing and implementing better diagnosis and treatments," commented one of the study's authors, Prof Carlo La Vecchia of the University of Milan in Italy.

The researchers noted that since 2011, there has been a fall in overall cancer death rates in the EU of 8% in men and 3% in women.

Since the number of older people in Europe is on the increase, the actual number of cancer deaths in Europe is excepted to risk slightly this year, however, ‘the absolute number of cancer deaths are likely to level off in the future', Prof La Vecchia said.

"We do not understand much about the causes of leukaemias, and so more research is needed in this area," he added.

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