A survey of lung cancer in rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland: health views that impact on early diagnosis and treatment

B J Page, R V Bowman, I A Yang, K M Fong

Lung cancer incidence, mortality and hospitalisation rates are higher for Indigenous Australians compared to non-Indigenous Australians and increase again when living in more remote areas. If Indigenous Australians are made more aware of lung cancer through better access to health services and programs, lung cancer outcomes might improve. We aimed to survey the level of lung cancer awareness in rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and discover perceived barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. Interviews were conducted in three discrete outer regional and remote Aboriginal communities and one urban setting in Queensland. Participants included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from three target population groups: patients referred for medical treatment with symptoms suspicious of lung cancer or confirmed lung cancer); Indigenous health workers; community members aged 18 years and over. Participants gave written, informed consent. Of 51 community members and 14 Indigenous health workers , 32 reflected they knew very little about lung cancer, 60 cited smoking as the cause of lung cancer and 54 recognised warning symptoms as a prompt to seek health care. Indigenous health workers were not able to describe a health care pathway that would apply to a patient with suspected lung cancer. The two main barriers identified as impacting on quality health care were communication and follow-up processes. These could be addressed by service improvement activities.