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Cancer among people living in rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland
Author(s) -
Coory Michael,
Thompson Alison,
Ganguly Indranl
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2000.tb125661.x
Subject(s) - cancer , indigenous , cervical cancer , medicine , incidence (geometry) , cancer registry , demography , population , colorectal cancer , lung cancer , cancer incidence , mortality rate , prostate cancer , rural area , environmental health , gerontology , surgery , oncology , pathology , ecology , biology , sociology , physics , optics
Objective To describe the pattern of cancer among people living in rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland and to consider what implications the results have for cancer control. Design and setting Descriptive analysis of data on incidence and mortality from the population‐based Queensland Cancer Registry for the years Main outcome measures Age‐standardised incidence and mortality rates for different cancer sites. Results The pattern of cancer was different from that found in the Queensland population as a whole. Of all the cancer sites, cervical cancer showed the biggest difference: the age‐standardised incidence was 4.7 times the State average (95% Cl, 3.2‐6.6) and the mortality rate was 13.4 times the State average (95% Cl, 7.8‐21.4). Rates of lung cancer and other smoking‐related cancers, although not as high as those for cervical cancer, were also significantly higher than the Queensland average, while rates for prostate and colorectal cancer were significantly lower. Conclusion The cancers that are over‐represented among Indigenous people are amenable to preventive measures. The cancer burden among Indigenous people could be reduced by lowering the prevalence of smoking and improving participation in cervical cancer screening and follow‐up of screening‐detected abnormalities.