Decreasing Bladder Cancer Survival Rates in South Australia

1. No. 117 Decreasing Bladder Cancer Survival Rates in South Australia S Plagakis, D Foreman, C Pinnock, S Edwards and S Walsh. Department of Urology, Repatriation General Hospital, South Australia. Posters Proudly Supported by: Introduction Bladder cancer is the tenth most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia. It accounts for 2% of all new cancer diagnoses.¹ The Australian age-standardised incidence of bladder cancer has been decreasing since 1982, however the 5-year relative survival rate has also been decreasing.² This trend has been observed worldwide. The Repatriation General Hospital (RGH) has been maintaining the Bladder Cancer Outcomes Database since 1988 and collects data relating to all newly diagnosed cases within their catchment area. Results continued This correlates with increasing stage and grade of disease at diagnosis in patients being diagnosed at present compared with 30 years ago. Patients are also older at age of diagnosis compared with patients diagnosed in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Aim To explore the 5 year bladder cancer survival rates and predictors of outcome in a sample of the South Australian population, and compare it to published international data. On Cox regression model, the most significant independent predictors of poor outcomes in this population were: - female gender- age at diagnosis - stage at diagnosis. • Methods • Data was extracted from the Bladder Cancer Outcomes Database between 1st January 1978 and 19th December 2011, identifying a total of 1466 patients. • The characteristics investigated were age at diagnosis, gender, stage and grade at diagnosis, year of diagnosis and cause of death. • The survival data of the entire population was analysed and the characteristics of patients further investigated after separating them into Muscle Invasive (MI) and Non-Muscle Invasive (NMI) Bladder Cancer groups. This was performed using SPSS software. • Patients diagnosed with muscle invasive bladder cancer have poorer outcomes. • Kaplan Meier of Bladder-cancer specific survival in MI disease. • 5 Year Survival Rates for Bladder Cancer • 90% in Non-Muscle Invasive • 32% in Muscle Invasive Results Bladder cancer survival is decreasing in South Australia with each consecutive decade. Conclusions Bladder cancer survival is decreasing with each decade within our cohort at the RGH. This is consistent with international published data. At the RGH, our crude survival rates are higher than national rates. The main contributors to poor outcomes identified in our population were increasing age at diagnosis and increasing proportion of advanced disease at diagnosis. This supports the importance of early detection. References 1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2010. Cancer in Australia 2010: an overview. Cancer series no. 60. Cat. No. CAN 56. Canberra: AIHW. 2. AIHW 2012. Cancer survival and prevalence in Australia: period estimates from 1982 to 2010. Cancer series no. 69. Cat. no. CAN 65. Canberra, AIHW.