Cancer "most feared disease"

People fear cancer more than any other disease, according to a new survey here today. The poll of more than 2,000 adults found 35 percent fear cancer while 25 percent are most worried about developing Alzheimer's disease.Just 3 percent are concerned about heart disease more than other illnesses, while 5 percent are worried about stroke and 7 percent think motor neurone disease would be the worst type of disease to get.Some 2 percent of people surveyed for Cancer Research UK said they were worried about catching HIV.Top of the list of cancers most feared is brain cancer (16 percent), followed by bowel cancer (10 percent).People said they feared brain cancer because they thought it was the cancer they were most likely to die from (57 percent), or which had the worst symptoms (47 percent). Among men, bowel cancer is the second most concerning type (12 percent), followed by lung (10 percent) and prostate (10 percent) cancer.For women, breast cancer (13 percent) caused the most concern after brain cancer, followed by bowel (8 percent) and lung (7 percent).When asked about survival rates, 21 percent of people surveyed thought breast cancer had the best survival rate while 12 percent said testicular cancer. Actual figures show testicular cancer has the best survival rate after five years of any cancer (97 percent), followed by melanoma (skin) (87 percent) and breast cancer (85 percent). Dr Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said "Cancer is a very emotive subject and it's understandable why so many people fear it among other diseases. "Yet people should be reassured that we are doing all we can to find new treatments for the disease."