Critical Illness - some statistics
Have you considered how you would look after yourself or your family if you were unable to work due to illness?
Huge advantages in medical techniques have eliminated many of the major causes of early death, however some illnesses are still around and the figures are suprising.
Cancer is the cause of a quarter (24%) of all deaths in the UK.
(1) Every year, around 300,000 people have heart attacks. For 150,000 people, it is their first. Half of all heart attacks are fatal.
(2) Of those women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, 62% survive five years or more.(3) .
Sources: 1. Imperial Cancer Research Fund - Scientific year book 2002. 2. The British Heart Foundation. 3. Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Five year survival figures for England and Wales, patients diagnosed in 1981.