An Introduction

Cancer can affect people of all ages, even the unborn, but the risk for the most cancers increases with age. Today Cancer is thought to cause about 13% of all human deaths and animals also suffer from cancers. No one fully understands the nature of cancer and there is no clear definition beyond saying that cancer is any malignant growth (or tumor) caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division which may spread within the body.

The causes are widely debated, however cellular malfunction may be caused by any of 1000's of causes from food additives, electromagnetic radiation, unresolved emotional and mental stresses, exposure to toxic chemicals, and infectious agents in our environment. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth.

Pathology

The type of cancer is usually classified according to the tissue from which the cancerous cells originate. As well as the normal cell type they most resemble, cancers are defined by the location location and histology. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be the range of symptoms experienced or radiographic and x-ray imaging abnormalities.

Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the type, location, and stage of development. Once diagnosed, cancer is most commonly treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But there are many 'alternative' cancer treatments that are as; or even more effective than surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

At the genetic level, the DNA in the cells is unable to repair the damage we suspect due to immune system weakness, the cancer cells however once developed have a very powerful regeneration system. This in part why many cancer treatments are unsuccessful.

Cancer Today *

The leading cause of death in 1995 for females was cancer (all types), which accounted for 26 percent of all deaths. Although female age-standardised rates for cancer are lower than for males, female rates have increased by 5 percent over the last ten years, while male rates have dropped 3 percent. Breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer death for females in 1995 (25.5 deaths per 100,000 population) and although numbers of deaths have increased by 21 percent over the last decade, age-standardised rates have increased by only 2 percent.

Since 1986 female lung cancer mortality rates have increased by 36 percent, from 14.3 deaths per 100,000 population to 19.4 deaths per 100,000 in 1995. Although males are still more likely to die from lung cancer than females, the gap between the sexes has narrowed over the last decade. Males were three times more likely than females to die from lung cancer in 1986, but only twice as likely in 1995. The reasons for these trends are unclear because of the lag time associated with the effects of smoking on health. However, census data shows that female smoking rates have declined at a slower rate than those for males over the past decade or so. In 1971, 39.6 percent of men were regular smokers compared with 31.7 percent of women. By 1996, male and female smoking rates had almost converged; 22.8 percent of all women aged 15 and over were regular smokers compared with 24.8 percent of men.

A cause of death specific to women is cervical cancer. Each year about 80 New Zealand women die from cervical cancer and 200 women are diagnosed as having invasive cancer of the cervix. Maori women are over two-and-a-half times more likely to develop the disease as non-Maori women.

For women in the 25-44 age group the leading cause of death is cancer and 1 in 3 of these deaths are from breast cancer. Diseases of the circulatory system (mainly heart attacks) also begin to impact on this age group. Among women in the 45 to 64 age group, over half of deaths are from cancer with breast cancer being most common. Diseases of the circulatory system (eg ischaemic heart disease), lung and bowel cancers and diseases of the respiratory system are other common causes of death. From age 65 years onwards, circulatory diseases, such as ischaemic disease and strokes are the major cause of death. In 1995 almost half (49 percent) of all female deaths in this age group were from circulatory diseases, while a further 22 percent were from various types of cancer and 13 percent from respiratory diseases.

* Information provided by Statistics New Zealand.

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