Background

We compared outcomes for rare and less common (RLC) cancers with common cancer outcomes to determine the impact of diagnoses of RLC on persons aged 24 and under within the state of Queensland.

Methods

We aggregated 2012 cancer data from Queensland residents into RLC cancers and common cancers.  Cancers were grouped in accordance with the Rare Cancers Australia Rare Cancers Baseline Report.  We present information on incidence, mortality, prevalence, potential years of life lost and relative survival (both five and ten years) for these two groups of cancers. 

Results

Until patients reach their late 20s, RLC cancers are diagnosed more frequently than common cancers.  The combined incidence of RLC cancers was 2.5 times the incidence of common cancers among people aged 24 and under.  RLC cancers had a greater impact across all of the reported indicators, with mortality being over six times greater, relative survival being approximately ten percentage points lower in RLC cancers and the PYLL due to RLC cancers being between seven and eight times greater.  At the end of 2012, there were over four times the number of people living with a past diagnosis of RLC cancer than there were with a diagnosis of a common cancer (2038 vs 503).

Conclusions

Although the burden of disease within Queensland may be small for individual rare or less common cancer subtypes, the combined impact of these cancers is a sizeable public health issue.  These cancers have a much greater impact on the lives of young Queenslanders than the ‘common’ cancers.