Lung cancer in Australia

Our plain-English summary of Lung cancer in Australia, by G. McLennan, D.M. Roder (The Medical Journal of Australia, 1989).

The study

• Authors: G. McLennan, D.M. Roder
• Journal: The Medical Journal of Australia
• Published: 1989;150(4):206-7, 210-3
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 003939).

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death of cancer in Australian men and the third leading cause in Australian women. Efforts are being made to reduce the incidence of this disease by smoking-cessation programmes and improved industrial hygiene, and these measures need to be encouraged strongly by all sectors of the community. On a population basis, insufficient evidence is available to justify screening procedures for the early detection of lung cancer in "at-risk" groups. Cure is possible by surgical resection in early cases. Improvements in therapeutic results with traditional cancer treatments largely have reached a plateau, but a number of newer therapies, and combinations of standard therapies, currently are being evaluated. Of particular interest is concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy in localized non-small-cell lung cancer; laser "debulking" in conjunction with radiotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer, and biological response-modifying agents in non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer. It is important that data be collected adequately to define epidemiological changes and to evaluate treatment results (including repeat bronchoscopy, to assess local control of tumour), and that the quality of life is recorded and reported in the evaluation process. Finally, phase-III studies in lung-cancer treatments require adequate numbers of subjects to enable meaningful conclusions to be achieve objectives within a reasonable study period.

In plain English

This was a short review, not an original study, of lung cancer in Australia, focused mainly on treatment. Citing national statistics, the authors reported 5865 new lung cancer cases in Australia in 1982 (4646 in men and 1219 in women) and 5702 lung cancer deaths in 1986. They cited an estimate that tobacco smoking was responsible for 85% of lung cancer cases in men and 55% in women. Asbestos appeared only briefly. The authors named exposure to asbestos and uranium as other factors of importance for Australia. They cited an earlier long-term follow-up of workers from the historical crocidolite mining at Wittenoom, Western Australia, which found a standardized mortality ratio of 2.64 for cancers of the trachea, bronchus and lung. That figure was the other study's result. The authors also described three screening trials that found no differences in five-year mortality. The authors concluded that there was insufficient evidence to justify population screening of at-risk groups, and that results with traditional treatments had largely reached a plateau.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of lung cancer epidemiology and treatment in Australia, not an original study
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The review drew on Australian national and South Australian cancer statistics and on published treatment research, with attention to work from Australian institutions.
• Exposure: Mainly tobacco smoking. Asbestos (crocidolite mined at Wittenoom, Western Australia) and uranium mining were mentioned briefly as other risk factors of importance for Australia.
• Main results:
  • Citing national figures for 1982, 5865 new lung cancer cases occurred in Australia: 4646 in men and 1219 in women.
  • Lung cancer caused 5702 deaths in Australia in 1986, a crude rate of 35.7 deaths per 100 000 population, slightly down from 36.4 per 100 000 in 1985.
  • Cited from an earlier study, not this one: long-term follow-up of workers from the historical crocidolite mining at Wittenoom showed a standardized mortality ratio of 2.64 for neoplasms of the trachea, bronchus and lung.
  • Cited estimate: tobacco smoking was thought to be responsible for 85% of lung cancer cases in men and 55% in women.
  • Three cited randomized screening trials compared sputum cytology every four months with annual chest x-ray in at-risk smoking men. They found no differences in five-year mortality.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, on a population basis, there was insufficient evidence to justify screening at-risk groups for early detection of lung cancer. They stated that cure is possible by surgery in early cases, and that results with traditional treatments had largely reached a plateau.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Industrial Hygiene, Surgical Resection, Chemotherapy, Bronchoscopy, Quality of Life.

Related studies

• Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: period estimates from 1982 to 2010 — Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2013)
• Sputum asbestos bodies and radiographic changes in residents of Wittenoom, Western Australia — A.W. Musk, J.E. Baker, et al. (1983)
• Prevalence of radiographic asbestosis in crocidolite miners and millers at Wittenoom, Western Australia — W.O. Cookson, N.H. De Klerk, et al. (1986)
• Morphology of bronchogenic carcinoma in workers formerly exposed to crocidolite at Wittenoom Gorge in Western Australia — J.E. Baker, D.C. Reutens, et al. (1986)
• The future excess fraction of occupational cancer among those exposed to carcinogens at work in Australia in 2012 — R.N. Carey, S.J. Hutchings, et al. (2017)
• Mortality experience among Minnesota taconite mining industry workers — E.M. Allen, B.H. Alexander, et al. (2014)

Browse more research in The Medical Journal of Australia, or return to medical research.