RATES of kidney cancer in the UK have soared by one-third in the past decade, a leading charity has revealed.

Since the early 2000s, annual incidence of the disease has risen from nine to 12 per 100,000 people, according to new figures from Cancer Research UK. The number of new cases is up from almost 7000 a decade ago to 10,000.

Obesity, smoking and better diagnostic techniques are all said to have contributed to the increase. Kidney cancer is the eighth most common form of the disease in the UK and causes 4200 deaths each year.

Professor Tim Eisen, a Cancer Research UK clinician, said: "These figures show a worrying rise in kidney cancer and emphasise how crucial more research into better treatments is."