Letters
Infectious diseases Cancer
Volume 197 - Issue 9

Liver cancer is the fastest increasing cause of cancer death in Australians

Authors:  Jennifer H MacLachlan and Benjamin C Cowie

Med J Aust 2012; 197 (9): 492-493. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.11481
Published online: 5 November 2012
To the Editor: In September 2012, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released its report on cancer survival and prevalence in Australia from 1982 to 2010, incorporating incidence and mortality estimates for all malignancies reported to Australian cancer registries.1 Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia, accounting for about 20% of the total disease burden and 30% of deaths.2 Liver cancer ...
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To the Editor: In September 2012, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released its report on cancer survival and prevalence in Australia from 1982 to 2010, incorporating incidence and mortality estimates for all malignancies reported to Australian cancer registries.1 Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia, accounting for about 20% of the total disease burden and 30% of deaths.2

Liver cancer causes an increasing number of deaths in Australia every year, primarily related to the increasing prevalence of chronic viral hepatitis — now estimated to affect around 400 000 people, or 2% of the population.3 Liver cancer survival remains among the lowest of all cancers, with only 16% of people still alive 5 years after diagnosis. By 2007, liver cancer had become the 11th most common cause of cancer death of Australians.1

For the first time, the new AIHW report indicates that primary liver cancer is the fastest increasing cause of cancer mortality in this country.1 The annual number of new cases of liver cancer recorded in Australian cancer registries almost tripled between 1982 and 2007 (from 1.8 to 5.2 cases per 100 000 population), and no other cancer has had a larger increase in mortality, with the number of Australians dying from liver cancer doubling during the same period.

With most primary liver cancer attributable to chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and increasing evidence of the efficacy of antiviral therapy for viral hepatitis in preventing cancer,3,4 it is a universally recognised public health priority to scale up access to these treatments.5,6 However, less than 3% of people living with viral hepatitis are receiving treatment, reflecting low levels of community and clinical awareness of this issue.3 Unless this is urgently addressed, we will see the fastest increasing cause of cancer death of Australians continue to accelerate.

Authors

  • Jennifer H MacLachlan1
  • Benjamin C Cowie1
  • 1. WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for Hepatitis B, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: benjamin.cowie@mh.org.au

Competing interests

No relevant disclosures.

References

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