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New cancer report reveals poor survival from late diagnosis

A new report from the Queensland Cancer Registry and Cancer Council Queensland has highlighted the importance of early detection and screening, revealing lower survival rates for cancers typically detected when more advanced.

Director of Cancer Registries for Cancer Council Queensland, Professor Joanne Aitken, said while five-year survival had improved since the 1980s, survival was still poor for types of cancers which tend to be detected in advanced stages of disease.

“The report shows that about two out of three people (67 per cent) diagnosed with cancer in Queensland will survive for at least five years after they are diagnosed. This is a significant increase since the 1980s, when five-year survival was 55 per cent,” she said.

“Overall, this improvement in survival can be attributed to a combination of earlier diagnosis and improvements in treatment.

“However, survival remains poor for cancers which tend to be detected when they are well advanced, such as lung cancer (13 per cent), which is still the single largest cause of cancer deaths in Queensland.

“Continuing efforts to lower smoking rates in Queensland are critical to reducing deaths from this disease.”

The report also found that the number of people diagnosed with cancer in Queensland is increasing annually by over four per cent for men and about three per cent for women.

“21,855 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in Queensland during 2007 and 7,531 people died from cancer, compared to 21,250 new cases and 7,085 deaths in 2006.

“These increases are primarily due to population growth and ageing,” Prof Aitken said.

The report reveals there are currently over 155,000 Queenslanders living with a diagnosis of cancer.

“As cancer survival continues to improve, this number is likely to increase in the future. This underlines the continuing need for funding of cancer control measures such as research, screening programs, support services for patients and their families, and prevention and awareness campaigns.”

One in two men and one in three women living in Queensland will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.

The full report is available on Cancer Council Queensland’s website: www.cancerqld.org.au/page/Research_statistics/Queensland_Cancer_Registry.  
 
Further details are also available from Queensland Cancer Statistics OnLine: (www.cancerqld.org.au/f/QCSOL/).  

ENDS.

For more information and pre-recorded interviews for Thursday, please contact:
Anne Savage, Director Public Affairs, Cancer Council Queensland
P: 07 3634 5241 M: 0417 709 869