‘We are in trouble’: Uterine cancer cases and deaths on the rise
Increasing rates in younger women pose a particularly concerning problem for a disease often only spotted because of postmenopausal bleeding.
Doctors are sounding the alarm on rising rates of uterine cancer, which has become more common than cervical cancer and ovarian cancer combined.
A report from the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group shows the incidence in Australia has risen from 1592 cases in 2000 (16.6 per 100,000 women) to an estimated 3507 cases this year (26.8 per 100,000).
Unlike most cancers, mortality rates have also increased, from 0.18 per diagnosis in 1994 to 0.20 in 2024.
“This report is the first of its kind to look at uterine cancers and what they look like in Australia … and it tells us we are in trouble,” said Associate Professor Yoland Antill, deputy chair of the organisation’s Research Advisory Committee.
