Lifestyle behaviours and distance from a metropolis are the major factors contributing to regional Australians contracting cancer at higher rates than city dwellers, and being more likely to die within five years of diagnosis.
These are key findings in the Garvan Research Foundation’s new rural health report ‘A Rural Perspective: Cancer and Medical Research’
While remote and very remote dwellers were found to have the worst cancer survival rates, the nation’s cancer ‘hot spots’ are the inner regional areas - including the NSW North Coast.
These have the highest incidence rate in six of the selected cancers: prostate, breast, colorectal, melanoma of the skin, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and kidney cancer.
The main reasons, says the report, relate to environment and lifestyle risks - for instance a high rate of melanoma among rural people who engage in outdoor and agricultural work.
“Additionally, rural areas of Australia witness a higher prevalence of cancer risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity,” it adds.
“Having multiple risk factors increases the likelihood of developing a chronic condition.”
All up, one in two Australian men, and one in three women will develop cancer before the age of 85 years.
The report was launched at the National Farmers’ Federation 2016 National Congress in Canberra on 26 October. The Foundation says it “firmly places the spotlight on one of the federal government’s National Health Priority Areas, cancer.”
The report examines rural Australia’s cancer incidence and mortality rates, concluding that improvements being experienced in major cities are not being seen in the rural context.
Another key factor is the lower presence of oncologists, specialists and associated health providers in regional/rural areas.
Calling the urban and rural health gap “unacceptable”, Garvan Research Foundation CEO Andrew Giles said, “If we don’t act now, it will continue to grow. The ongoing challenge is to ensure that innovation in medicine is equalled by innovative policies that increase access to discovery so that all Australians can claim their share of the benefit.”
An important aspect of the report was considering the role medical research can play in the health of all Australians.
“Medical research is critical in order to address the shortfalls in our knowledge and improve outcomes particularly for rural patients,” Mr Giles said.
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research is a multi-disciplinary facility with more than 600 scientists and PhD students working across six major research areas:
- Cancer – breast, colorectal (bowel), lung, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate;
- Diabetes and obesity – Type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic disorders;
- Immunology – asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, MS and Type 1 diabetes;
- Neuroscience – Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, anorexia, hearing loss;
- Osteoporosis and bone disorders;
- Genomics and epigenetics.
