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Deaths due to mesothelioma

The following information is based on Australian death rates only caused by mesothelioma. The information on deaths from mesothelioma in this section is based on the year of death, except for the most recent year, 2006, where year of registration is used.

The cause of every Australian death is certified by a medical practitioner and recorded on a death certificate. These death certificates are required by State and Territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages under jurisdiction specific legislation. On behalf of the Registrars these data are assembled, coded to the underlying cause of death, and released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Figure 8 shows the age and sex distribution of those 486 decedents. Deaths among young adults are rare: in 2006 the youngest death fell in the 30–34 year age group. The graph shows that deaths due to mesothelioma were distinctly skewed towards the older age groups: this is particularly clear for the male decedents with 79% aged over 65 years at the time of death. The comparable figure for female decedents was 66%.

Trends over time, 1997 to 2006

The overall number of deaths resulting from mesothelioma generally increased over the period between 1997 and 2006. The number of deaths reached a maximum of 545 in 2004 but has since declined to 486 registered deaths in 2006. The large majority of these deaths involved men: the proportion that were male averaged 84%, with little variation from that figure over the period.