Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are three times more likely to get lung cancer and die from it, than non-Aboriginal women, new data reveals.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among indigenous Victorians, with indigenous men also more than twice as likely to be diagnosed and die from the disease.
The Victorian Cancer Registry data prompted a call from Cancer Council Victoria to urge the state's indigenous population who smoke to get support and quit, to reduce cancer risk.
"Lung cancer accounts for more than one-in-four cancer deaths in Aboriginal Victorians, compared to almost one-in-five in other Victorians," council chief executive officer Todd Harper said.
Eighty per cent of lung cancers in Australia can be attributed to smoking and about one-in-eight cancer deaths is a result of smoking, he added.
