Burden of Cancer Report

Wednesday December 29, 2010

Melanoma is among twenty-five specific cancers for which a recent report has estimated its current burden in New Zealand.

According to the authors, the report adds to existing information on cancer in New Zealand that should assist in the planning and prioritisation of cancer services, especially cancer control activities. “Its most notable addition to current cancer incidence, survival and mortality information is the incorporation of morbidity and mortality into a single measure of cancer burden (the disability-adjusted life year, or DALY). This information provides a critical input into cost utility analysis, and so will help to inform future prioritisation decisions relating to cancer services. It also feeds into a larger burden of disease study currently being undertaken by the Ministry of Health, which covers all diseases, injuries and risk factors.”

Key findings in relation to melanoma are:

• A total of 4225 DALYs, or 80 DALYs per 100,000 people, is estimated to be lost by persons aged 15+ due to melanoma diagnosed in 2006 in New Zealand.
  
• The age-standardised rate for males is higher than the rate for females: 94 versus 66 DALYs per 100,000.
  
• Thirty-eight percent of the total DALY burden is experienced by people aged between 45 and 64 years. Those aged 75+ have the highest age-standardised rate: 276 DALYs per 100,000.
  
• Māori have 0.4 times the DALY age-standardised rate of non-Māori.
  
• The mortality component is a higher contributor to the burden than the disability component.
  
• The disability burden is around a third of the mortality burden.

Source: Ministry of Health, University of Otago. 2010. The Burden of Cancer: New Zealand 2006. Wellington: Ministry of Health.

See: http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/10443/$File/burden-of-cancer-nz-2006.pdf