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Today Puzzle #668

Puzzle No. 668 – Tuesday 4 February 2020

Today is World Cancer Day. There are 363,000 new cases diagnosed every year in the UK. 81% of those who are diagnosed early survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis compared with only 26% for those diagnosed late. Each year, how many more people will survive their cancer more than 5 years if the proportion diagnosed early is increased from 50 to 75% (in line with the Government’s Strategy)?

Today’s #PuzzleForToday has been set by Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, Fellow of Girton College and Rebecca Fitzgerald, Professor of Cancer Prevention at Cambridge University.

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The additional number of people who will be diagnosed early each year is 25% x 363,000 = 90,750. 81% of these will survive their cancer for at least 5 years, although 26% would have survived this time anyway had they been diagnosed late. Therefore (81% - 26%) x 90,750 = 49,913 more patients each year will survive their cancer 5 years.

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