Cancer remains one of the largest causes of death in Australia,
but many cancer cases could be prevented by reductions in sun
exposure and tobacco use.
According to a report released today by the Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare, cancer accounted for 27% of all deaths in
Australia in 1999, despite falling cancer death rates.
Males in Australia currently have a 1 in 3 risk of developing
cancer before the age of 75 years and females a 1 in 4 risk.
Approximately 82,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in
Australia each year.
In 2000-01, there were almost 310,000 hospitalisations in
Australia for which cancer was the principal diagnosis. This
accounted for 1 in 20 hospital stays.
There are also about 2 million general practice visits a year
for cancer management. Skin cancers (both melanoma and
non-melanocytic skin cancers) account for 46% of these visits,
indicating that excessive sun exposure remains a very serious
health problem in Australia.
In addition to 8,243 new cases of melanoma, there are also
around 270,000 new cases of non-melanocytic skin cancer each
year.
Report author Dr Chris Stevenson said that 'the continuing rise
in the incidence of melanoma shows that more Australians should
heed the warnings about excessive sun exposure.
'On the other hand, the incidence of smoking-related cancers has
fallen in recent years, but cigarette smoking is still a major
cause of cancer in Australia. It is estimated to have directly
caused 10,619 new cases of cancer (12.9% of all new cases of
cancer) and 7,554 deaths (21.8% of cancer deaths) in 1999.'
While incidence rates across all cancers rose slightly at an
average of 0.3% for men and 0.8% for women, overall cancer
mortality rates have been declining at an average of 1.1% per year
for men and 1.0% per year for women since 1990.
The most common cancers found in men were prostate cancer
(10,232 new cases in 1999), bowel cancer (6,188), lung cancer
(5,275) and melanoma (4,627). In women the most common cancers were
breast cancer (10,592), bowel cancer (5,449), melanoma (3,616) and
lung cancer (2,551).
In 2000-01, current tobacco use and personal history of tobacco
use were in the top 10 additional diagnoses for people admitted to
hospital for every one of the eight National Health Priority Area
cancers (lung, breast, cervix, prostate, bowel, melanoma,
non-melanocytic skin cancer, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma).
26 November 2002
Further information: Dr Chris Stevenson, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1041 or 0409 307 671 (mobile)
For additional comment: Prof. Alan Coates, The
Cancer Council Australia, tel. 02 9036 3100
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, tel. 02 6244 1032
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.