16 June 2017 - If you or your family have been touched by cancer, you will know this already, but new data confirms cancer is the disease group with the biggest impact on our health.

According to a new analysis of 2011 data by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, cancer accounts for one-fifth of our disease burden. Other conditions such as cardiovascular disease may be more common and cause a greater number of deaths, but cancer results in more years of life lost due to deaths occurring in younger age groups.

Five cancers account for almost half of the cancer burden: lung, bowel, breast, prostate and pancreatic, many of which have risk factors that can be avoided.

Read The Australian article