From Breast cancer in Australia: an overview, 2009
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Breast cancer in Australia: an overview, 2009 brings together under one cover the most up-to date national statistical information available on the epidemiology, public health and health services impact of breast cancer in Australia.
- On an average day in 2006, 35 Australian women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 7 women died from breast cancer.
- 12,614 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Australian women in 2006. This is the largest number of new breast cancer cases recorded for women in any year to date.
- The number of breast cancer cases diagnosed in women each year has more than doubled between 1982 and 2006 from 5,289 cases to 12,614 cases.
- The rate of breast cancer was 112 per 100,000 females in 2006. This is significantly higher than bowel cancer (52 cases per 100,000) and melanoma (38 cases per 100,000).
- The risk of a woman being diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85 years is 1 in 9 and the risk of a woman dying from breast cancer by the age of 85 years is 1 in 38.
- Of all breast cancer cases in females in 2006, 6% occurred in females aged less than 40 years, 69% in those aged 40 to 69 years and 25% in women aged 70 years and over.
- The average age at diagnosis of breast cancer for women is 60 years of age.
- Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women (apart from two types of non- reportable skin cancer) representing 28% of reported cancer cases in women in 2006.
- 2,618 women died from breast cancer in 2006, making it the second most common cause of cancer deaths for women, after lung cancer (2,683 deaths).
- There were 22 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women in 2006, the lowest recorded rate in the 25-year period considered.
- Women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 2000 and 2006 were 88% as likely to live five years after diagnosis as their counterparts in the general population, compared with 73% for those diagnosed between 1982 and 1987.
- Survival was significantly better for those women who lived in areas with the highest socioeconomic status (90% survival for five years after diagnosis) compared with those living in areas with the lowest socioeconomic status (86% survival).
- Between 2002 and 2006, Indigenous women were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than non-Indigenous women (69 versus 103 new cases per 100,000).
- The survival of Indigenous women diagnosed with breast cancer was poorer than for non-Indigenous women (65% versus 82% survival for 5 years).
- Women who were diagnosed with breast cancer when aged 60 to 69 years had the best survival prospects (92% survival for 5 years after diagnosis compared with 76% survival for those aged 80 years and over when diagnosed).
- The number of women diagnosed with breast cancer is projected to continue to increase, with an estimated 15,409 cases to be diagnosed in 2015.
- On an average day in 2015, 42 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
- 102 men were diagnosed with breast cancer and 25 died of the disease in 2006.
- There were 1,558 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ (a non-invasive tumour of the breast) diagnosed in women in 2005.
