Region

Table MESO05 shows standardised mesothelioma death rates per million by 3-year time period, government office region and sex. The period 1991-1993 was taken as the base for standardisation over time and Great Britain for standardisation over region. Thus the standardisation allows for changes in the age-structure of the underlying population over time and between regions. 

For both males and females the rates for Great Britain follow an upward trend over time - reaching 53.9 and 9.7 deaths per million respectively in 2003-2005 compared with 34.8 and 5.0 in 1991-1993. Overall for males, upward trends were evident in the rates over the 15-year period for all regions, though rates fell slightly in the most recent 3-year period in the North East, North West, and Wales.  There is some evidence of rates for the different regions converging over time in that regions with the lowest rates in earlier periods tended to increase most, and those with higher rates increased to a lesser extent.  For example, the largest relative increase - almost twofold – was in the West Midlands the region with the lowest rates in 1991-1993. In contrast the smallest relative increase was in Scotland (approximately 26%) which was the region with the second largest rate (after the North East) during the period 1991-1993. Although the numbers of cases are much smaller for females and so the pattern in the rates over time is more erratic, an upward trend is fairly clear in most regions. More detailed mesothelioma statistics by region are available in three separate fact sheets.

Occupation

Detailed mesothelioma death statistics for males and females and relative mortality for different occupational groups are available in a separate factsheet (Mesothelioma occupation statistics for males and females aged 16-74 in Great Britain, 1980-2000). This analysis showed that occupations where males had the highest risk of mesothelioma were metal plate workers (which includes shipyard workers) and vehicle body builders (which includes railway carriage and locomotive building). A number of the other high-risk occupations identified are associated with the construction industry, such as plumbers and gas fitters, carpenters and electricians. The analysis also showed that although the total number of male mesothelioma cases has increased almost three-fold since the early 1980s, in most cases proportions of mesothelioma deaths across occupational groups have remained stable over time. Occupations identified as relatively high risk for females included metal plate workers, chemical workers (which includes those classified as "process workers"), plastics workers and other foremen/labourers (which includes those classified as "factory workers").