Bowel cancer demographics

Bowel cancer is a major contributor to the burden of disease and injury in Australia. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of the cumulative rate to Australian bowel cancer statistics. In particular we will investigate the effects of sex, location and time of incidence and mortality of bowel cancer. A feature of this paper is that it uses the cumulative rate rather than the usual age-standardised rates as a basis for comparing incidence and mortality between populations. The cumulative rate gives the same sort of information as the age-standardised rate without the need to introduce a standard population. The results of this paper enhance our understanding of the impact of bowel cancer on Australia, and add to the methodology of descriptive epidemiology of cancer.