Australian cancer survival rate improves to 70 pct: report

CANBERRA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cancer survival rates in Australia are improving while diagnosis rates are falling, a report has found.

According to the Cancer in Australia 2021 report, which was published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Wednesday, the five-year survival rate for all cancer diagnoses has increased from 51 percent in 1988-92 to 70 percent in 2013-17.

An expected 151,000 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021, up from 47,500 in 1982, but the incidence rate has fallen from a peak of 508 cases per 100,000 people in 2008 to 486 cases per 100,000 in 2021.

"Changes in survival rates over time varied by cancer type, with the largest survival improvements seen in prostate cancer, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and tongue cancer," AIHW spokesman Justin Harvey said in a media release.

"While many cancers have high rates of survival, people diagnosed with cancers such as pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and mesothelioma have a less than one in five chance on average, of surviving at least five years after diagnosis," Harvey said.

"By the end of 2021, the cancer mortality rate is expected to reach a new low of 149 deaths per 100,000 people. It is expected that just under 50,000 people will die from cancer in 2021, an average of 135 deaths each day," he said.

For males the cancer mortality rate has fallen 37 percent from the peak of 287 deaths per 100,000 people in 1989 to 182 deaths per 100,000 in 2021.

Harvey attributed the declining rate to a significant fall in smoking rates since the 1960s and improved screening, early detection, monitoring and treatment programs.

Despite the improved survival rate cancer accounted for 30 percent of Australian deaths in 2020.

"Lung cancer is expected to be the leading cause of death from cancer in 2021, followed by colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer," Harvey said.