CANCER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14590, 27 April 1918, Page 10

CANCER.

»l A GROWING SCOURGE. NEW ZEALAND POSITION REVIEWED. (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Cancer is second on the list aa tne cause of death m New Zealand. Tuberculosis holds first placo, and is a source of greater menace to the community than *j**i cahefcr, for* the. .'reason* that it kills much earlier 'hi '"life," as 'is proved byi an interesting articlo by the Chief Compiler of Census Statistics dealing exhaustively, and on ori^inall lines, with cancer moiLahty m this country. A faintest of the relative severity of the two diseases, from a national point of view, is to be found m comparison of the aggregate years of life of which the na-tidti is robbed. During the fifteen years ended with 1916, cancer caused the deaths of 5862 males and 4990 females, and tuberculosis 6105 males and 5324 females. If the Biblical "three score. years and ten" is taken as the vspan of human -life*/. it is found that iv fifteen years cancer cost the nation 96,000 years of human life, and tuberculosis 438,000. ; There has been a steady and continuous increase iv the cancer death rate, states the article, but close examination of statistics shows that the increases m j the rate are much greater m the higher ages than m middle age — deaths are oc- : curring later m life; This is particularly marked *m connection with males. However, deaths of males from this dread disease are becoming more numerous than those of females. CAUSES OP CANCER. A good deal of care has been taken to discover if possible from the statistics, the causes of cancer. It has been proved beyond doubt, says the writer, that m England and Wales the death-rate fronl cancer is much higher among married women than among single women of j, the cancer age, and the inference, is that child-bearing is one of the prime causes of this class of cancer, which m j New Zealand was responsible m the nine years of 1908-1916 for 19 per cent, of the total -deaths of females from cancer, and m earlier years for probably a much | higher percentage. Thus a decrease m the birth rate is followed by a decrease m cancer mortality among females. This is the explanation of the decrease m the female death, rate, coupled with the fact that medical science is nowadays much better able to diagnose and cope with the disease. In explaining the causes of male deaths, the statistician turns to tobacco consumption, for the reason that cancer of the boccal cavity (the mouth, and salivary glands) is fairly common among males, but rare among females. There has been little or any increase m tobacco consumption, however, m the long period under review. Although some writers have expressed doubts on the points, there is a general consensus of opinion among medical men that smoking is at least a- contributory cause of cancer of the mouth, lips, etc., and the New Zealand statistics, states the writer, support this view. When the geographical distribution of . cancer is considered, the disclosures are remarkable. "Westland appears to be . easily the least healthy of the provincial districts from the point of view of can- j cer, 'having in' the period 1909-13 a rate ' one-third higher than Otago, which comes v second, followed by Canterbury, Taranaki, Nelson, and Auckland. Taranaki, Nelson, and Auckland, m that order, have; the lowest death rates m both quinquennial periods, while Wellington compares very favorably with Canterbury and .Otago. The explanation of these differences is to be found m the age rates m the provinces. Westland, for instance, is unique > among the provinces m that she has more people over the age of sixty than between Ine ages of 40 and 60, while more, than one-fifth of her. population is over 45 years of age. And th*e mortality figures snow that cancer i^ an "age disease. "To those who favor the theory that alcohol is a cause" of cancer," says the ; article, "the figures for Westland afford a certain amount of evidence. One hears of the" 'good old days' down the Coast — the days of the gold boom, when liquor as well as money flowed freely, and to this .day Westland has a much higher proportion of public houses than the ' general average of the Dominion." ' 'As fqr chances of recovery from .cancer/ the' figures available show that cancer ,01- the external classes — buccal cavity, breast and . skin — show a comparatively high percentage of recoveries, while the percentage of recoveries when the location is the stomach or intestines ' is exceedingly low, and the death rate higlu Cancer of the womb gives fairly satisfactory results with almost equal numbers of recoveries and deaths. This phase of the valuable investigation cannot be fully' followed up without a ays- ' tern of notification of canqer cases, and j it is evident that if the work now com- j inenced by the Government Statistician - is to be-continued with the object of reducing mortality from cancer, compulsory notification should be adopted.