Cancer data in Australia

This chapter includes discussion on Central Asia-born and Melanesia-born cancer incidence. Both of these ROBs have sufficient populations to be included in discussion in the report above. However, the Central Asia and Melanesia ROBs are both over-represented by one country within the region to the extent that discussion is more appropriately focussed on the COB.

Central Asia region of birth and Afghanistan country of birth

Cancer incidence rates for the Central Asia-born population have not been used to compare with other ROBs within the main sections of this report. In 2006–2020, 87% of the Central Asia-born population in Australia were born in Afghanistan. This is unrepresentative of the population distribution in Central Asia where the population of Afghanistan is less than 20% of the region’s population. It is also difficult to ascertain the extent to which cancer incidence rates and types are homogenous within the region. Given this, the Central Asia-born incidence data may be of comparatively limited value and discussion focusses on Afghanistan-born cancer incidence.

All cancers combined

The Afghanistan-born population living in Australia has a higher proportion of males in the 2006–2020 period (59%). This may impact some comparisons where rates are for persons and the other country of birth has lower proportions of males.  

In 2006–2020, the cancer incidence rate for the Afghanistan-born population was 235 cases per 100,000 persons and well below the Australia-born cancer incidence rate of 401 cases per 100,000 people. This lower cancer incidence rate for the Afghanistan-born population was reflected in Australia’s five leading cancers (Table 10).

Rates are age-standardised to the WHO World Standard Population and expressed cases per 100,000 population (that is, per 100,000 females for females, per 100,000 males for males and per 100,000 people for persons).

Source: Australian Cancer Database 2020

Melanoma of the skin

Melanoma of the skin was Australia’s 3rd most commonly diagnosed cancer for the period. Melanoma of the skin incidence rates for the Afghanistan-born population are not published because melanoma of the skin is not within the population’s leading 20 cancers for the 2006–2020 period and is comparatively rare in the Afghanistan-born population.

Stomach cancer

In 2006–2020, stomach cancer incidence for the Afghanistan-born population was much higher than the Australia-born population (15.7 cases per 100,000 people compared to 5.3). The male Afghanistan-born population’s comparatively high stomach cancer incidence rates was the main driver of this difference. In 2006–2020, the Afghanistan-born stomach cancer incidence rate was 23 cases per 100,000 males, making it the third most common cancer for Afghanistan-born males in this period. In contrast, the rate for females was 7.3 cases per 100,000 females. The corresponding stomach cancer incidence rates for the Australia-born population were 7.4 per 100,000 males and 3.5 cases per 100,000 females.

Rates are age-standardised to the WHO World Standard Population and expressed cases per 100,000 population (that is, per 100,000 females for females, per 100,000 males for males and per 100,000 people for persons).

Source: Australian Cancer Database 2020

Thyroid cancer

The Afghanistan-born population also had much higher thyroid cancer incidence than the Australia-born population in 2006–2020. For thyroid cancer, the comparatively high incidence rates for females led to the difference at the population level. At 23 cases per 100,000 females, thyroid cancer ranked second behind breast cancer for Afghanistan-born females in Australia and for Australia-born females it was the eleventh most commonly diagnosed cancer. Thyroid cancer incidence rates for males born in Afghanistan were similar to Australia-born males for this period (Table 12).

Rates are age-standardised to the WHO World Standard Population and expressed cases per 100,000 population (that is, per 100,000 females for females, per 100,000 males for males and per 100,000 people for persons).

Source: Australian Cancer Database 2020

Melanesia region of birth and Papua New Guinea country of birth

The Melanesia-born cancer incidence rates are highly influenced by one COB – Papua New Guinea. For 2006–2020, around 86% of the Melanesia-born population living in Australia were born in Papua New Guinea. The remainder of the Melanesia-born population in Australia were born in New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu.

In 2020, the melanoma of the skin incidence rate for the country of Papua New Guinea was estimated to be 3.3 cases per 100,000 people and the overall cancer incidence rate estimate was 175 cases per 100,000 people (IARC 2022). For the 2006–2020 period, the equivalent rates for Papua New Guinea-born people in Australia were 27 cases per 100,000 people and 367 cases per 100,000 people.

In 2021, the Australian Census noted that around 38% of the Papua New Guinea population in Australia had Papua New Guinean ancestry, around 26% English, 25% Australian, 10% Chinese and 9% of Irish (noting respondents may report up to 2 ancestries and so the total may be more than 100%) (ABS 2021c). The Papua New Guinea-born cancer incidence rate comparisons with the actual country of Papua New Guinea may be influenced by differences in the composition of the respective populations, including but not limited to ancestry. 

Table 13 compares incidence rates for selected cancers between the Papua New Guinea-born, Melanesia-born, Australia-born populations and Papua New Guinea. The Papua New Guinea-born incidence rates strongly influence the Melanesia-born incidence rates due to the population distribution of the Melanesia-born population. However, the cervical cancer incidence rate for Melanesia-born females was higher than Papua New Guinea-born incidence rates. Even though New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu only represent 14% of the COBs for the Melanesia-born population, the higher rates of cervical cancer for the collective of these COBs were sufficient to raise Melanesia-born cervical cancer incidence rates above the Papua New Guinea-born rates.

Papua New Guinea-born breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, melanoma of the skin and all cancers combined incidence rates are more reflective of the Australia-born cancer incidence than the rates estimated by IARC for Papua New Guinea. This may be influenced by ancestry differences but may also be influenced by the cancer detection programs and practices in the Australian environment.

Uterine cancer, cervical cancer and tongue cancer incidence rates for Papua New Guinea-born populations are higher than the Australian-born incidence rates for 2006–2020. Cervical cancer incidence was estimated to be comparatively high within Papua New Guinea in 2022 and Papua New Guinea had the highest rate of lip and oral cavity cancer in the world (IARC 2022).

Note: Rates are age-standardised to the WHO World Standard Population and expressed cases per 100,000 population (that is, per 100,000 females for females, per 100,000 males for males and per 100,000 people for persons).

Source: Australian Cancer Database 2020, Cancer Today International Agency for Research on Cancer 2022