More with cancer but fewer die
A more than doubling in the number of new cancer cases in Australia since the early 1980s has a silver lining - a marked rise in survival rates over that time.
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows the magnitude of cancer's toll in recent years, with a steady increase in new cases linked to the ageing population and better diagnostic technology.
Health experts predict almost 124,000 Australians will have been diagnosed with cancer this year, and more than 45,000 will have died from the disease now responsible for three out of every 10 deaths.
The report, Cancer in Australia 2014, shows new cancer cases rose from 47,417 to 123,920 between 1982 and 2014.
There were significant increases in cancers of the prostate, bowel, breast and lungs.
WA had a lower than average rate of cancer in 2005-2009 when adjusted for age and population, and one of the lowest death rates.
AIHW spokesman Justin Harvey said the big rise in cancer cases could be mostly attributed to the rise in the incidence of prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer in women and lung cancer.
The increase could be partly explained by the ageing and increasing size of the population, improved diagnosis through population health screening programs such as Breastscreen, and improvements in technology used to detect cancer.
Death rates from cancer have fallen, with lung cancer still the deadliest even though it is not one of the most common types.
"Survival from cancer has improved significantly, with five-year survival from all cancers combined rising from 46 per cent in 1982-1986 to 67 per cent in 2007-2011," Mr Harvey said.
"Australians diagnosed with cancer generally had better survival prospects compared with people living in other countries and regions.
"However, these improvements haven't been consistent across all cancers."
Cancers with the biggest improvement in survival rates were prostate cancer, kidney cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
An AIHW report this year predicted WA would have more than 13,000 new cancer cases this year and more than 19,100 a year in a decade.
