Cancer incidence and survival by histology (selected cancers)
Incidence by histology (for selected cancers) - experimental data
The data visualisation below provides cancer incidence by histology and, below that, the corresponding survival information is provided in a separate visualisation. Histology describes the type of cells in which the cancer originates. The selected cancers reported on are brain, breast, cervical, colorectal, kidney, liver, lung, pancreatic, prostate, mesothelioma and melanoma of the skin. More cancers may be added to this list in future Cancer data in Australia reports.
The visualisations include prefixes to help identify the relationships between cancers. For example, for colorectal cancer C1.01 is the prefix ID for carcinomas, C1.01.01 is the prefix ID for squamous cell carcinoma - a type of carcinoma. The prefixes are provided for assistance only within this report and have nothing to do with the respective cancers outside of this specific assistance.
Information about why the data is experimental is provided below the visualisations and this information should help understanding potential data limitations.
To use the visualisation, please select the cancer and then the cancer type.
Figure 1 of this visualisation shows incidence rates by age time series for the selected cancer type. Figure 2 shows the time series of percentages that the cancer type is of the selected cancer. Rates and percentages are available for different age groups and overall. The visualisation contains information on many different types of cancer. Data is available by sex. The data for this visualisation is available in Excel workbooks in the Data section of the Cancer data in Australia report.
Cancer incidence by histology data are available as supplementary tables.
Survival by histology (for selected cancers) - experimental data
The below data visualisation provides cancer survival by histology for selected cancers (brain, breast, cervical, colorectal, kidney, liver, lung, pancreatic, prostate, mesothelioma and melanoma of the skin).
The number of cancers available within the survival visualisation is less than incidence. Incidence data is provided if there is at least one case in any of the reporting years while survival rates are provided if there is a survival rate for at least one of the reporting periods. Reliable survival rates require considerably more cases.
In addition to the 5-year reporting periods, a 15-year reporting period (2005–2019) has been created to increase the likelihood of at least a limited range of survival statistics being available for rarer cancers. This period provides only a limited understanding of survival. A limitation of this period is that the rates may be more predominantly derived from earlier years where survival may differ compared to more recent periods.
Figure 1 of this visualisation shows the survival rates for the selected cancer type over time. Figure 2 shows the survival rates by age for the for the selected cancer for the selected period. Figure 3 shows the proportion of cases by age for the selected cancer type. Survival rates include either relative or observed. Survival rates include 1, 2-, 3-, 4- or 5-year survival. Data is available by sex. The data for this visualisation is available in Excel workbooks in the Data section of the Cancer data in Australia report.
Cancer survival by histology data are available as supplementary tables.
Why is the histology data experimental?
Over time, diagnostic capabilities for cancer continue to improve. These improvements can lead to changes from more a general diagnosis of cancer type to more specific diagnosis. Accordingly, some incidence rates for cancers by histology may be increasing due to improvements in cancer diagnostic capabilities rather than a genuine increase of the cancer. Cancer data commentary 10 discusses why blood cancer by histology data is experimental and the principles discussed generally apply to the histology reporting for the above visualisations too.
The rates for the lead cancers (for example breast cancer or pancreatic cancer) are not experimental; these require the site of the body where the cancer originates whereas histology requires the cell types.