Preventable cancers higher among Indigenous Australians
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12.00 NOON, SUNDAY 16 MAY 2004
Cancers that affect Indigenous Australians, to a greater extent than other Australians, are largely preventable according to research published in the current issue of The Medical Journal of Australia.
In the first detailed report of long-term trends in Indigenous cancer deaths, Dr John Condon, from the Menzies School of Health Research, and the Institute of Advanced Studies at Charles Darwin University, and colleagues, say that smoking cessation, Pap smear programs and hepatitis B vaccinations would prevent many cancers common among Indigenous people.
The study compares cancer mortality rates of the Northern Territory Indigenous population with those of the total Australian population for 1991-2000. It also examines time trends in cancer mortality rates in the NT Indigenous population from 1977-2000.
The study results show that mortality rates for cancers of the liver, lung, uterus, cervix and thyroid were higher among Indigenous people in the Northern Territory than for the total Australian population for these cancers.
In younger Indigenous people the death rate was higher for cancers of the oropharynx, oesophagus and pancreas.
NT Indigenous mortality rates were lower than the total Australian rates for renal cancers and melanoma and, in older people only, for cancers of the prostate and bowel.
Differences between Indigenous and total Australian cancer mortality rates were more pronounced among those aged under 64 years for most cancers.
Cancer mortality rates in NT Indigenous people increased over the 24-year period, with significant increases for cancers of the oropharynx, pancreas and lung, all of which are smoking-related cancers.
Lung cancer was by far the commonest registered cause of cancer death in NT Indigenous people, and mortality from lung cancer doubled between 1977 and 2000.
Dr Condon said the very high death rate from cervical cancer could be reduced rapidly through earlier diagnosis and treatment.
"The fall in cervical cancer mortality seen in 1997-2000 may be an early sign of improvement, but longer term data are required to be certain of any improvement trends," Dr Condon said.
"Cancer is an important and increasing health problem for Indigenous Australians.
"Efforts to prevent these cancers in other Australians have been increasingly successful over several decades. It is high time Indigenous Australians shared in these successes," Dr Condon said.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
CONTACT Dr John CONDON 08 8922 8413(w), 0407 227 254
Judith TOKLEY, AMA Public Affairs, 02 6270 5471(w), 0408 824 306