Spatio-temporal relative survival of breast and colorectal cancer in Queensland, Australia 2001–2011

Despite improvements in cancer survival across many developed countries, it is unclear how survival is changing over time in small areas. This study investigated changes in breast and colorectal cancer survival across 478 areas over 11 years (2001–2011), and the influence of early diagnosis on changes. Queensland Cancer Registry data were analysed using an introduced Bayesian spatio-temporal flexible parametric relative survival model. All areas showed survival improvements between 2001–2003 and 2008–2011. The median absolute 5-year survival improvement for localised breast cancer was small (1.8%), compared to advanced (4.8%) and unknown (7.9%) breast cancer, as well as localised (2.6%), advanced (5.0%) and unknown (4.8%) colorectal cancers. Improvements in non-diagnostic factors, such as patient treatment and management, appear to be the main influence on recent survival increases for breast and colorectal cancers. Important inequalities in cancer survival between small areas remain.