A large England-based study shows people with a learning disability face a higher cancer burden and worse outcomes, with delays in investigation, lower treatment rates, and shorter survival after diagnosis.

Lead investigator Prof. Darren Ashcroft highlighted persistent gaps in cancer care for this group and urged improved access, training, and flexible services to reduce preventable deaths.

Advocates including Mencap pressed the NHS to implement priority cancer screening and urgent referral pathways for people with learning disabilities to tackle disparities.

Lead author Dr. Oliver Kennedy stressed the urgent need to improve cancer detection and care, noting barriers like communication challenges and diagnostic overshadowing that delay investigations and treatment.

Certain cancers are more common among people with learning disabilities—sarcoma and central nervous system cancers notably higher—while others like melanoma, breast, and prostate are less common, yet mortality after diagnosis can be much higher.

People with learning disabilities have a markedly higher risk of cancer before age 50, with strongest excess in nervous system, uterine, ovarian, and digestive cancers; esophageal cancer before 50 is more than fivefold higher.

About half of individuals with learning disabilities are not referred urgently for red-flag cancer symptoms, contributing to later-stage diagnoses and lower chances for curative treatment.

The study analyzed linked data from primary care, hospital, national cancer, and death records, including 180,911 individuals with learning disabilities and over 3.4 million controls.

Life expectancy after cancer diagnosis is substantially shorter for people with learning disabilities, especially severe cases or Down syndrome, with many dying within four years versus about nine years for those without a learning disability.