ACT Health Minister Simon Corbell. Photo: Jeffrey Chan
Women in Canberra have a higher risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer than those in other parts of the country, a new report reveals.
The ACT had the country’s highest incidence rate for breast cancer in women between 2005 and 2009, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report released on Thursday shows.
But the territory had the country’s second lowest incidence for all cancers combined and the lowest mortality rate.
The report revealed the annual average number of cancer cases diagnosed in the ACT was 1405 between 2005 and 2009.
Nationally, the number of new cancer cases diagnosed more than doubled between 1982 and this year, rising from 47,417 to 123,920, AIHW spokesman Justin Harvey said.
There were significant increases in prostate, bowel, breast and lung cancers.
“A lot of the increase in the number of cases is due to an increasing size and age of the Australian population, as well as improved diagnosis through population health screening programs and improvements in technologies and techniques used for identifying and diagnosing cancer,” Mr Harvey said.
It is estimated 45,780 Australians will die from cancer this year, with cancer responsible for about three in 10 deaths.
But the mortality rate from cancer has declined since 1982, Mr Harvey said.
“These reports are very important in terms of providing information both on the impact of cancer on the population, so the number of people diagnosed and that die from cancer but also on improvements in terms of survival and mortality in the population, which a lot of government programs are designed to address,” Mr Harvey said.
The report showed survival from cancer had improved significantly, with five-year survival for all cancer types rising from 46 per cent in 1982-86 to 67 per cent in 2007-11.
While there had been large survival gains for prostate and kidney cancers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in that time, the improvement was less marked for cancers with low survival rates three decades ago such as cancer of other digestive organs, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer.
Mr Harvey said screening programs were an important tool to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with cancer.
“It tends to diagnose cancers earlier, when they’re not yet symptomatic and that leads to better outcomes for people,” he said.
Mr Harvey said higher rates of participation in screening programs could lead to higher rates of diagnosis.
More than 1.7 Australian women were screened through BreastScreen Australia in 2011-12, with about 55 per cent of women in the target age group of 50-69 taking part in the program, an AIHW report earlier this year showed.
The ACT’s participation rate was 53.4 per cent, with 21,338 women screened in 2011-12.
In the ACT, a third of the 14,840 people who were sent a bowel cancer screening test returned a sample for testing in 2012-13.
About 57 per cent or 64,041 women in the ACT aged 20 to 69 participated in the National Cervical Screening Program in 2011-12.
Health Minister Simon Corbell said the government recognised the “significant challenges” the rising cancer rate posed for the health system and had invested in the Canberra Region Cancer Centre, which opened in August.
“The new centre offers a full range of screening, assessment, diagnostic, treatment and palliative services in an outpatient setting,” he said.
“It provides an integrated service that focuses on delivering the right treatment and support to patients as early as possible in their journey.”
Mr Corbell said the government also invested $10.4 million in the 2014-15 budget, which included funding for more services and staff at the centre and to expand the lymphoedema service at Calvary Hospital.