Australian cancer atlas 2.0 reveals geographic impact of cancer diagnosis across the country

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Image 1: Professor Peter Baade launching the Australian Cancer Atlas v2

In partnership, Cancer Council Queensland (CCQ) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have released their new version of the Australian Cancer Atlas, an online cancer map revealing startling new geographical patterns across Australia.

Latest results from the Australian Cancer Atlas 2.0 shows the impact of cancer varies substantially depending on where Australians live. While the patterns vary for different cancer types, where there are differences, the consistent pattern is that Australians living in regional and remote areas experience poorer survival than those living in urban areas.

Cancer Council Queensland’s Professor Peter Baade says Cancer Atlas 2.0 provides unique information about the extent and characteristics of these geographical patterns, which is crucial for motivating the next step of understanding why these disparities exist.

“There is substantial evidence that, when it comes to cancer, where you live really matters. Our research demonstrates the disparities faced by Australians living in regional and remote areas have not improved over time,” said Professor Baade.

QUT Centre for Data Science Director, Distinguished Professor Kerrie Mengersen says this tool is critical in helping define rural and regional health care planning.

“Now we have the data, the next step is understanding the ‘why.’ Once we do that, we can make informed changes to reduce these differences in cancer rates. By using the Cancer Atlas along with the new Australian Cancer Plan, we can give policymakers, advocates, and communities the tools to make better health outcomes for all Australians.”

The Leukaemia Foundation is using the Australian Cancer Atlas to enhance their research to better understand the impact of blood cancer across the country.

Tim Murphy, General Manager Blood Cancer Partnerships at the Leukaemia Foundation says the Australian Cancer Atlas is a valuable tool to ensure the right resources are in the right places.

“The Australian Cancer Atlas will assist the sector to explore the essential data needed to address blood cancer more effectively and provide crucial insights to help us improve how we support affected communities in Australia,” said Mr Murphy.

“The cancer atlas will bring us closer to understanding blood cancers reach and impact and enable us to enhance our research and tailor our interventions more precisely to shape future healthcare strategies and to fight blood cancer head on.”

The MPN AA is delighted to showcase version 2 of the Cancer Atlas of Australia which includes updated data on myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

MPN incidence and MPN patient survival are mapped in detail across the country.  Across all cancer types, the consistent pattern is that Australians living in regional and remote areas experience poorer survival than those living in urban areas. MPN survival data is no different. Cancer Council Queensland’s Professor Peter Baade explains that “The atlas shows which areas have above-average risk factors for cancer, which areas have low screening or testing rates, higher rates of cancer diagnoses, and which areas have poorer survival rates.”

The MPN AA continues to highlight disparities in MPN incidence across the country. We believe some differences may be due to inconsistent reporting to cancer registries. Efforts in recent years to improve MPN reporting may show more consistent incidence across Australia in future atlas updates. If not, reasons for such disparities in incidence will need to be closely examined.

Of even greater concern are the vastly different survival rates of MPN patients across the country. Hopefully this will be the subject of future research.

MPNs are listed as ‘classic MPNs’ in the atlas. You may wish to follow the visual explainers.  
It is available HERE.

Images below show the differences between MPN incidence and survival based on the latest available data from 2019.

The colour “ramp” visualises how the impact of cancer varies in a specific area compared to the Australian average. Blue means lower than average (or for survival, better), yellow represents the Australian average, and orange/red means higher than average (or for survival, worse).

Image 2:  MPN incidence across Australia in 2019

Image 3: MPN 5 year survival across Australia in 2019

 

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New WHO guideline for diagnosis of anaemia

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The World Health Organisation has just revised its guideline for diagnosis of anaemia thanks to a team of Australian researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, led by Professor Sant-Rayn Pasricha.

These Australian researchers  have already:

Whilst this WHO guideline is for diagnosis of anaemia in general populations and does not refer to anaemia in the context of myeloproliferative neoplasms, we are excited to report on the contribution made to the field by Australian researchers.

The ABC’s ‘Health Report’ interviewed Professor Sant-Rayn Pasricha to explain the new guideline and how it was arrived at.
Listen to the interview  HERE.

The guideline is titled ‘Guideline on haemoglobin cutoffs to define anaemia in individuals and populations’ and is freely available to download in PDF form HERE.

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More research showing anti-cancer benefits of exercise

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The Cancer Council, in conjunction with the Victorian government, has just released an informative study about the importance of exercise in reducing cancer risk. Their new research estimates that more than three times as many cancers are attributable to physical inactivity than previously thought.

The cancers that were linked to physical inactivity were: breast, colon, bladder, endometrial, kidney, oesophageal adenocarcinoma, gastric, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, head and neck, myeloma, myeloid leukaemia, liver, and gallbladder.

Associate Professor Brigid Lynch, senior author of the paper, said the findings provide a contemporary understanding of the cancer burden due to physical inactivity.
“We now know being physically active reduces the risk of 13 types of cancer. This new research highlights the number of individual cancer diagnoses that could have been prevented if Australians were better supported to integrate regular physical activity into their day.”

The news article also goes onto say that “Australia is a nation proud of its health system, yet we don’t have a physical activity plan or coordinated national physical activity strategy. Combined with changes in food supply, eating behaviours, a rise in convenience and ultra-processed foods, we are living in environments that do not promote healthy lifestyles.”

The news item from the Cancer Council can be accessed HERE.

 

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QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute – Blood cancer treatment could be transformed by discovery

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QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute researchers have discovered a potential new treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and other cancers.

Watch their exciting news HERE

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Podcast – Nathalie Cook’s Pegasys story

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The Leukaemia Foundation has just launched Season 2 of their ‘Talking Blood Cancer’ podcast series.

We are delighted to let you know that the first podcast features the MPNAA’s own Nathalie Cook. She shares her own MPN story and her success with using Pegasys (pegylated interferon) for controlling her blood counts.

Nathalie played a pivotal role in having Pegasys listed onto the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme here in Australia. It has been available to patients on the PBS since 2018.

You can listen here to Nathalie’s Pegasys story

 

 

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MPNs and fatigue

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Ken Young, a founding member of the MPN AA and well known to the Australian MPN community, has co-authored an article about how fatigue can be a problem for MPN patients.
The research surveyed 90 patients who had already identified as suffering fatigue. Researchers then undertook qualitative research with those MPN patients and 23 were interviewed in considerable depth. The level of fatigue appeared to be more marked in patients with myelofibrosis.

The authors concluded that ‘health professionals could affect patients’ lives substantially by acknowledging and understanding fatigue in MPN, including contributing factors and potential opportunities for management.’  The article also proposed that ‘More systematic data describing the causes and management of MPN fatigue is needed.’

The full article is available HERE.

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Updated MPN booklet

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The Leukaemia Foundation provides a range of information and services to support and inform blood cancer patients. It has just released a new MPN booklet Myeloproliferative Neoplasms – a guide for people with MPN and their support people (November 2021).

This is a detailed booklet about MPNs, medically reviewed and updated.
You’ll find it contains plenty of helpful information about diagnosis, treatment, navigating the health system and much more.

 

The electronic version of the booklet is available HERE.

If you would like a hard copy of the booklet, please contact the Leukaemia Foundation on 1800 620 420.

 

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Swab a cheek and save a life

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The Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry is urging Australians to consider becoming a bone marrow donor.  It’s a very simple process through its ‘Strength to Give’ campaign.

Please ask your family, friends and their friends to consider becoming a donor.

For a small number of  MPN patients, the only possibility of prolonging survival is through a blood stem cell transplant. Many other blood cancer patients also benefit from stem cell transplants.

The Strength to Give donor recruitment campaign is targeted towards younger male donors (18 to 30 years old) as young male donors typically result in better outcomes for patients and increases their overall chance at achieving a full recovery (unfortunately only 4% of the registry are young male donors). It is also important to attract donors from different ethnic backgrounds as patients are more likely to find a match with a donor from the same ethnic background.

Some heart-warming stories from donors and more information is available from the Strength to Give website at strengthtogive.org.au.

 

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Let’s support ground breaking MPN research by award winning researchers at the University of Western Australia!

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Professor Wendy Erber and her colleagues, Dr Kathryn Fuller and Dr Henry Hui at the University of Western Australia, (pictured above) are undertaking research on a new technique to see if they can detect which MPN patients may be at risk of progressing to leukaemia or marrow fibrosis. It is hoped this may ultimately provide an alternative to the current method of utilising bone marrow biopsies for the purpose of detecting the first signs of disease escape or progression. Although only a minority of MPN patients are affected, it is not currently known who this might affect or when this will occur. By the time symptoms appear, it is generally difficult to cure. Hence a predictor of progression may assist in providing treatment earlier and possibly providing cures.

We all have small numbers of circulating stem cells (CD34+). In MPNs, the numbers are higher than those who do not have an MPN. They further increase in number with progression to leukaemia and marrow fibrosis. The team is about to commence looking at a new approach using these CD34+ cells in the blood to see if they have changes in the chromosomes that may predict progression or change in status of the MPN. They have some support from a University grant to get this started, and have formed a collaboration with MPN haematologists and scientists in Belfast to include samples from their patients.

The method the team will use is their own invention, and the one that won a Eureka Award (affectionately known as the “Oscars of Science”!) in 2018 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AvLxCLkAJc). As you will see from the Youtube video it is a flow cytometry method that enables the study thousands of cells to see if the cell-of-interest has the chromosome change that may predict progression.

We are exceedingly fortunate to have researchers of such high calibre working on MPNs in Australia. MPN AA is raising funds to support their research. Let’s get behind them!

Please support this ground-breaking MPN research in Australia this Christmas, and donate via this link.

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$35,000 donation to Dr Steven Lane, QIMR, for MPN research

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Pictured here is Dr Steven Lane, Head of Cancer Program QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, receiving a donation of $35,000 from Lara Chapman and the MPN AA.

The money is being used to further understand the mechanisms of how MPNs turn into leukaemia. The research is underway in Brisbane and will generate important preliminary data that helps explain molecular events that drive the transformation from MPN to AML. Ultimately, uncovering molecular targets will inform the development of targeted therapeutic approaches for treatment of transformed MPN, a highly chemo-refractory disease associated with extremely poor prognosis in patients.

On behalf of Dr Lane and the MPN AA, sincere thanks to all the donors who have made possible this valuable contribution to MPN research. The cheque for $35,000 is a result of various fundraising activities since the inception of the MPN Fund in 2014 and the first online MPN Art Exhibition in 2017.

Lara has announced this was her last official duty with MPN AA. She has said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every donor, supporter and the people that I have worked with over the last seven years:-  MPN advocates worldwide, MPN AA colleagues past and present, Leukaemia Foundation, MPN Research Foundation, University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, MPN Advocacy & Education International, haematologists, friends and family members, for your support in believing in the idea of establishing the MPN Fund and MPN Alliance Australia to benefit the MPN community. I am proud of the platform that has been created to increase awareness, the useful resources available on the MPN AA website and importantly the valuable contribution to MPN research.”

We wholeheartedly wish Lara all the best in her future endeavours, including her wonderful painting. We salute Lara for her determination and for all the hours of work she spent in establishing MPN AA, as well as her fundraising efforts. She leaves a lasting legacy.

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