Background
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is producing a report to present statistics on the incidence, treatment, mortality, survival, prevalence and disease burden of gastrointestinal cancers in Australia.
Aim
Present up-to-date and comprehensive statistics on gastrointestinal cancers in Australia.
Methods
The AIHW collects data from state and territory cancer registries and produces the Australian Cancer Database, a collection of all primary, malignant cancers diagnosed in Australia since 1982. The AIHW also has national data on deaths, hospitalisations, radiotherapy and burden of disease. National statistics were produced on the incidence, treatment, mortality, survival, prevalence and disease burden of gastrointestinal cancers in Australia.
Results
Gastrointestinal cancers are a major cause of illness in Australia. The majority of the burden of gastrointestinal cancers is due to Australians dying prematurely and a large proportion of this burden is due to modifiable risk factors.
Colorectal cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type of gastrointestinal cancer in Australia, has the highest 5-year relative survival rate (69% in 2009–2013). In 2014, there were 15,253 new cases of colorectal cancer and in 2015 there were 4,346 deaths from colorectal cancer. Pancreatic cancer, the second most commonly diagnosed type of gastrointestinal cancer in Australia, has the lowest 5-year relative survival rate (7.7% in 2009–2013). In 2014, there were 3,078 new cases of pancreatic cancer and in 2015 there were 2,760 deaths.
Further, and updated, national statistics on gastrointestinal cancers will also be presented at the conference.
Conclusion
Gastrointestinal cancers are one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australia and are a major cause of illness. They have a significant impact on health service use, mortality and burden of disease. However, survival is improving for many gastrointestinal cancers and there is a relatively large number of gastrointestinal cancer survivors.