Lung cancer treatment and mortality for Aboriginal people in New South Wales, Australia: results from a population-based record linkage study and medical record audit

Table 1 Demographic and disease characteristics of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people diagnosed with lung cancer in NSW

	NSW population data, diagnosed 2001–2007					Patterns of Care (POC) data, diagnosed 2001–2010
	Non-Aboriginal		Aboriginal			Aboriginal
	n	%	n	%	p-value^a	n	%
All people	19,813		341			219
Sex
Male	12,540	63	191	56	0.006	122	56
Female	7273	37	150	44		97	44
Age at diagnosis (years)					<0.001
18–49	930	5	39	11		31	14
50–59	2609	13	79	23		65	30
60–69	5292	27	110	32		71	32
70–79	7117	36	87	26		45	21
80+	3865	20	26	8		7	3
Spread of disease (from CCR)^b					0.586
Localised	4602	23	79	23		40	22
Regional	3352	17	67	20		42	23
Distant	7281	37	118	35		67	37
Unknown	4578	23	77	23		30	17
Place of residence at diagnosis^b					<0.001
Major cities	13,687	69	125	37		77	43
Inner regional	4637	23	122	36		60	34
Rural^c	1489	8	94	28		42	23
Comorbidities^d
Diabetes	2735	15	67	20	0.004	46	27
Cardiovascular disease	3999	21	85	26	0.055	35	21
Chronic pulmonary disease	5381	29	132	40	<0.001	35	38
Renal disease	899	5	23	7	0.070	10	6
Any other comorbidities	2380	13	39	12	0.624	27	16
Socioeconomic disadvantage quintile^b				<0.001
Least disadvantaged	3031	15	22	6		12	7
Second least disadvantaged	4041	20	31	9		15	8
Third least advantaged	3375	17	44	13		36	20
Second most disadvantaged	4476	23	74	22		33	18
Most disadvantaged	4890	25	170	50		83	46
Smoking status					<0.001
Current smoker	5582	28	143	42		101	46
Ever smoker^e	5934	30	99	29		61	28
Former smoker	4237	21	56	16		23	11
Never smoker	3623	18	35	10		22	10
Unknown	437	2	8	2		12	5
Histological type (from CCR)^b					0.059
Non-small cell	16,369	83	273	80		142	79
Small cell	2533	13	57	17		34	19
Other and unspecified	911	5	11	3		3	2
Method of diagnosis (from CCR)^b					0.58
Histopathology	14,205	72	251	74		139	78
Cytology	2832	14	42	12		17	10
Clinical/Imaging/Biochemical	2776	14	48	14		23	13

CCR Central Cancer Registry
^a p-values are from Pearson's χ² test comparing frequencies in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the NSW population data only
^bFor the POC data, only 179 people who linked to the CCR were included
^cRural includes outer regional, remote and very remote
^dPeople who were not admitted to a NSW hospital from 12 months prior to 6 months after diagnosis were excluded as information on comorbidities was not available. In the NSW population data, 331 Aboriginal and 18,761 non-Aboriginal people were included. In the POC data, 170 Aboriginal people were included
^eCurrent or former smoking status at the time of diagnosis could not be determined

ISSN: 1471-2407