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A cluster of vulvar cancer and vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia in young Australian Indigenous women

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Abstract

Objective

To describe the epidemiological features of a possible disease cluster of vulvar cancer and pre-cancers in Australian Indigenous women living in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia.

Methods

We identified NT-resident women with a confirmed histological diagnosis of vulvar cancer or high-grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 2005.

Results

Seventy-one women were identified; 32 diagnosed with vulvar cancer and 39 with high-grade VIN. Most women diagnosed were Indigenous, aged less than 50 years and living in remote communities in the East Arnhem (EA) district, on the north-east coast of the NT. The age-adjusted incidence rate of vulvar cancer in EA Indigenous women aged 0–49 years was 31.1 per 100,000 (95% CI 13.1–49.1), over 50 times higher than the national Australian rate (0.4 per 100,000, 95% CI 0.4–0.5) for the same age-group. In the age-group of 0–49 years, the age-adjusted incidence rate of VIN for EA Indigenous women was 34.7 per 100,000 (95% CI 15.2–54.3), compared with 6.7 per 100,000 (95% CI 2.0–11.4) for Indigenous women living elsewhere in the Top End of the NT.

Conclusion

These data provide evidence of a geographic cluster of vulvar cancer in remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to Dr. Steve Guthridge, Ms. Debbie Taylor-Thomson, and staff of the Health Gains Planning Branch of the Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services (NTDHCS), and Northern Territory Hospitals for advice and assistance during data collection and analysis. We thank Dr. Tom Dodds, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, for providing a second opinion of cases of vulvar cancer. Financial support: Funding for this study was provided by the NT DHCS. Alice Rumbold and John Condon were supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Capacity Building Grant #236235.

Conflicts of interest

We are not aware of any financial or other conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Services, Systems and Society Division, Menzies School of Health Research, PO Box 41096, Casuarina, NT, 0811, Australia

    John R. Condon & Alice R. Rumbold

  2. Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

    John R. Condon & Alice R. Rumbold

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia

    Jane C. Thorn

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Cairns Base Hospital, Cairns, Australia

    Margaret M. O’Brien

  5. Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia

    Margaret J. Davy

  6. Hunter Area Pathology Service, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton, Australia

    Ibrahim Zardawi

Authors
  1. John R. Condon
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  2. Alice R. Rumbold
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  3. Jane C. Thorn
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  4. Margaret M. O’Brien
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  5. Margaret J. Davy
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  6. Ibrahim Zardawi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alice R. Rumbold.

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Condon, J.R., Rumbold, A.R., Thorn, J.C. et al. A cluster of vulvar cancer and vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia in young Australian Indigenous women. Cancer Causes Control 20, 67–74 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9218-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9218-6

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