T. Dwyer et al., HIGHER LUNG-CANCER RATES IN YOUNG-WOMEN THAN YOUNG MEN - TASMANIA, 1983 TO 1992, CCC. Cancer causes & control, 5(4), 1994, pp. 351-358
In a background of changing lung cancer rates in the past decade, mean
incidence and mortality rates for persons aged 25-44 in Tasmania for
the decade 1983 through 1992 were examined using Tasmanian Cancer Regi
stry data. The smoking behavior of Tasmanian adults and schoolchildren
was also investigated, using data from a social survey conducted by t
he Australian Bureau of Statistics and from five secondary school smok
ing surveys. The Tasmanian age-standardized lung cancer incidence rate
s in 25-44 year olds for the 10-year period were 6.2 per 100,000 femal
es and 3.3 per 100,000 males. Mean rates of incidence were higher for
females than for males (P = 0.02). The corresponding mortality rates w
ere 4.2 in females and 2.4 in males (P = 0.08). The prevalence of smok
ing by adult Tasmanian women is higher than that for other Australian
women (P < 0.05), and their duration of smoking is longer (P < 0.01).
Tasmanian schoolgirls have a higher smoking prevalence than Australian
mainland schoolgirls (P = 0.01) and higher prevalence than Tasmanian
schoolboys (P = 0.0 1). The data suggest that smoking prevalence among
teenagers passed that for males only a decade before the observed exc
ess of female incident cases among 25-44 year olds in Tasmania.