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In this issue

Annual report on Australian cancer rates Drawing on data from state and territory cancer registries, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) compiled statistics for cancer incidence and mortality rates between 1991–2009 and 1991–2010, respectively, and made projections for 2012. In 2012, the AIHW estimated 120 710 new cases of cancer (56% male, 44% female) and 42 844 deaths (57% male, 43% female). The most frequently diagnosed cancer is prostate cancer in males, and breast cancer in females, while lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality in both, although males have experienced a decrease in rate and females an increase. By age, the incidence rate is higher in males after 55 years, while the mortality rate is higher in males after 50 years. Patterns of incidence rates in males have largely been dictated by fluctuations in prostate cancer, which has experienced a declining mortality rate since 1993. In females, incidence rates have been fairly stable following peaks in the early 1990’s, after which mortality rates have also declined; both incidence and mortality rates have been heavily influenced by breast cancer. Data regarding Indigenous populations have only been available since the mid-2000’s, but the trends reveal higher rates of both incidence and mortality. Overall, incidence rates have risen, while mortality rates have declined. AIHW does sponsor national screening programs for breast, cervical, and bowel cancer. As a final note, basal and squamous cell carcinomas, the most commonly diagnosed cancers, are not reported to cancer registries, and were therefore left out of this report. (pp. 199–213).