Background: It has been shown that in certain populations the prognosis of
Hodgkin's disease (HD) has improved markedly since the late 1960s. This has
not been formally demonstrated in an Australian population.
Aims: To review all patients in Tasmania diagnosed with HD between 1972 and
1992, and to ascertain whether variation in survival is evident in this gr
oup over this period.
Methods: Tasmanian patients with HD diagnosed from 1978 to 1992 were identi
fied retrospectively from the Tasmanian Cancer Registry database. Identific
ation of those diagnosed prior to 1978 was obtained from a previously publi
shed data set. To be valid for inclusion, subjects were required to have be
en diagnosed between January 1972 and December 1992, enabling a minimum fou
r year follow up period. Survival was assessed by contacting patients' medi
cal practitioners and by examining the most current electoral roll, medical
records, and the register of births, deaths and marriages. Univariate and
multivariate analyses were performed of the influence on prognosis of age,
sex, histological subtype and epoch of diagnosis; information concerning st
age of disease was not available.
Results: During the period of this study 206 patients were newly diagnosed
as having HD. Comparisons of cases diagnosed in the successive seven-year e
pochs 1972-8, 1979-85 and 1986-92 revealed a significant increase in surviv
al duration (p=0.023), with ten year survival rates of 46%, 55% and 73% res
pectively. In a multivariate analysis adjusting for age, sex and histology,
each successive epoch was associated with an estimated 28% reduction in th
e death rate relative to the preceding epoch (p=0.022).
Conclusions: There was a significant improvement in the survival duration o
f patients diagnosed with HD in Tasmania over the period 1972-92, which was
possibly due to a combination of better diagnostic techniques and more eff
ective treatments.