It's quite alarming to see, in any country, that the rate of new cancers being diagnosed is occurring at a higher rate than the overall growth of the population. But, this is precisely what is happening in the country of Australia, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.New cases of cancer reached the 106,000 quantity milestone in 2006, and that represents an increase of over 34 percent from just 10 years ago. The most common form of cancer in Australia? Prostate cancer is that answer, and it's known to be one of the more deadly forms.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare suggested that general medical practitioners are possibly not sending enough men to have extensive checks done, as it mentioned the numbers could grow even more if every male in Australia were diligent about having prostate exams done.
1. Here we go again.
My take on this report: In Australia, between 1983 and 2003, the number of new cancer increased by 26% but this is all explained by population aging; the age-standardized incidence was stable at -0.7%. Brian, why do you find this alarming?
Kudos to Australian physicians who decreased the mortality rate by -12%. Overall, they are slowly winning the war on cancer.
The report paid extra attention to prostate cancer. There was indeed a large increase in incidence, making it the more frequent cancer in Australia. But this increase is artificial, a consequence of PSA screening. Fig 4.2 shows clearly that, as the incidence peaked in 1994, the mortality started decreasing. In epidemiology jargon, this transient peak in incidence following the introduction of a new screening test is called "lead time bias". In the case of prostate cancer, it is compounded by "overdiagnosis bias".
You see, that's the whole point of cancer screening: more diagnoses, less death. That's good, not bad.
Posted at 3:07PM on Jun 29th 2007 by Emmanuel M