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Cancer: New Registrations and Deaths 2003



cover of Cancer publication.
Annual statistical publication that collates and analyses data on primary malignant tumour cases diagnosed in New Zealand, as reported to the New Zealand Cancer Register.The NZ Cancer Registry has operated since 1948 and is a population-based tumour register of all primary malignant disease. (Basal and squamous cancers arising in the skin are not required to be reported, except for those of the genitalia.)The major sources of new registrations are copies of laboratory reports, post-discharge reports from publicly funded hospitals, death certificates and autopsy reports, and discharge reports from private hospitals.The data collected includes information on the site, stage and pathology of the cancer, as well as demographic information (eg, ethnicity, age, sex, domicile). The data is collected under the Cancer Registry Act 1993 and the Cancer Registry Regulations 1994.

The publication highlights the following facts:

Registrations

    • In 2003, there were 18,586 new registrations for cancer in New Zealand. The number of registrations has increased by 3.6 percent from 2002 and 17.2 percent from 1995.
    • The age-standardised rate for new cancer registrations was 317.8 per 100,000 population
    • There were 9856 male and 8730 female new registrations in 2003. The male age-standardised registration rate (356.2 per 100,000 males) exceeded the female rate (287.4 per 100,000 females).

Deaths
    • In 2003 there were 8027 recorded deaths from cancer in New Zealand. Deaths from cancer have increased by 2.9 percent from 2002 and 8.2 percent from 1995.
    • The age-standardised rate of death from cancer was 121.9 per 100,000 population in 2003.

Selected cancer sites
    • The most commonly registered cancer in 2003 was cancer of the colorectum and anus (2700 new cases), followed closely by cancer of the prostate (2696 cases).
    • The leading cause of death from cancer in 2003 was cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung (1466 deaths), followed by cancer of the colorectum and anus (1116 deaths).
    • Among males, prostate cancer was the most commonly registered cancer (2696 cases, just over 27 percent of male registrations), with an age-standardised rate of 97.9 registrations per 100,000 males.
    • Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung was the leading cause of death among males in 2003 (848 deaths, nearly 20 percent of male cancer deaths), with an age-standardised mortality rate of 28.5 per 100,000 males.
    • Among females, breast cancer was the most commonly registered cancer (2325 cases, nearly 27 percent of all female registrations), with an age-standardised rate of 81.5 cases per 100,000 females.
    • Breast cancer was also the leading cause of death among females (647 deaths, just over 17 percent of female cancer deaths), with an age-standardised mortality rate of 20.7 per 100,000 females.

Ethnicity
    • For Māori, in 2003, there were 1303 cancer registrations (572 males and 731 females) and 727 deaths (367 males and 360 females) from cancer. The Māori age-standardised rate of cancer registrations in 2003 (320.9 per 100,000 population) was similar to the non-Māori rate (317.3).
    • The age-standardised rate for Maori deaths from cancer (194.1 per 100,000 population) was higher than the non-Māori rate (115.8).
    • The most commonly registered cancer among Māori males was cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung, with an age-standardised rate of 64.1 per 100,000, nearly twice that of the non-Māori male rate (32.7). It was also far more common among Māori females than non-Māori females, with an age-standardised rate of 80.9 per 100,000, nearly four times that of the non-Māori rate.
    • While cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung was the leading cause of cancer deaths for both Māori and non-Māori males, the Māori rate of 68.3 per 100,000 was more than two-and-a-half times higher than the non-Māori rate (25.8).
    • Cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung was the leading cause of death among Māori females (but not non-Māori females), and the age-standardised rate for Māori females (68.4 per 100,000 females) was nearly four-and-a-half times that of the non-Māori female rate (15.5).

The statistical tables accompanying in this publication can be downloaded as an Excel file (695 kB)
The publication can be downloaded as a (PDF, 1 MB).
Note that this issue of Cancer: New Registrations and Deaths does not contain a full set of tables. For tables of, eg, detailed sites, the Excel file must be obtained.

To order a printed copy of this publication, e-mail nzhis-pub@moh.govt.nz or contact the Publications Officer, NZHIS, PO Box 5013, Wellington, phone (04) 496 2000, fax (04) 496 2340.

Published 2007
111 pages, A4
A limited number of hardcopy publications are available free of charge
ISBN 978-0-478-30788-7 (print), ISBN 978-0-478-30789-4 (online)

The 2002 (PDF, 2.2MB) and 2002 Errata (PDF, 182kB), 2001(PDF, 599 KB), 2000 (PDF, 490 KB), 1999 (PDF, 951 KB), 1998 (PDF, 423 KB), 1997 (PDF, 762 KB), 1996 (PDF, 729 KB) and 1995 (PDF, 667 KB) issues of this publication are also available. They each contain a full set of tables.


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