Adam Cresswell, The Australian

Prostate cancer has overtaken colorectal cancer to become the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in Australia. And figures show that the numbers of new prostate cancer cases are rising far faster than expected.

A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, to be released today, says that in contrast to forecasts published in 2005 projecting 12,929 new cases of prostate cancer in 2006, the true number will be about 18,700.

Today’s report shows that prostate cancer has already overtaken colorectal cancer, based on the latest figures, which relate to 2003. They show there were 13,526 new prostate cancers diagnosed in 2003, compared with 12,536 cases of colorectal cancer.

A renewed surge in testing for prostate cancer is partly driving the increase in diagnoses. Tests for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) – a marker in blood that usually rises when a prostate cancer is growing – shot up by 42 per cent, from 492,147 tests in 2001-02 to 698,828 in 2005-06, partly driven by greater awareness and by the ageing male population.

Prostate cancer is still behind lung cancer as the biggest cause of cancer deaths in men. In 2003, 4506 men died of lung-related cancers and 2837 died from prostate cancer.

The most commonly diagnosed cancers in men and women after prostate and colorectal cancer are of the breast (11,889 new cases in 2003), melanoma (9524) and lung cancer (8249).

The report, Cancer in Australia: An Overview 2006, also reveals there were an estimated 106,000 new cases of cancer in Australia last year, a 34 per cent increase over 10 years. Deaths from cancer rose 12 per cent to 39,200.

Lifetime cancer risk is now one in two for men and one in three for women.

Report co-author Mark Short said that as men with prostate cancer were about 70 years old on average when first diagnosed, the growth in the numbers of men aged 65 and over was pushing more men into the age band when the disease tended to strike.
The Cancer Council of Australia said the report confirmed previous evidence that Australians in rural areas were more likely than urban residents to be diagnosed with cancer and to be killed by it.

The Cancer Council of Australia said the report confirmed previous evidence that Australians in rural areas were more likely than urban residents to be diagnosed with cancer and to be killed by it.

The Cancer Council’s chief executive officer, Ian Olver, said the findings underlined the need for travel subsidies for rural cancer patients.