The national clinical director, cancer programme, Dr John Childs, said the statistical reports did not attempt to explain why some regions had higher cancer and death rates.
"The data leads to quite a number of questions which are not answered by the publication and as such, are likely to spark the interest of health researchers," he said.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in New Zealand, accounting for 29 per cent of all deaths.
Information in the report has not been adjusted to account for differences in either ethnicity or socio-economic deprivation, which affect rates of registrations and deaths.
"This means it's important to look at the population structure in different areas when reading this report," Dr Childs said. "For instance, we know that Maori populations have higher rates of cancer and that people who are most deprived generally have poorer health outcomes."
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society health promotion manager Melanie Desmarais said there was a correlation between low socio-economic status and poor health.
"We know the overall cancer mortality for Maori is significantly higher than non-Maori. Our region has a higher Maori population than many others."
Other factors included a high rural population, with limited access to healthcare.
The report highlights lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths nationwide. The Lakes/Bay of Plenty's lung cancer mortality and registrations are higher than average, pushing up the region's overall cancer registration and death rates, the Cancer Society says.
"This could be linked to the higher than average smoking rates in the Lakes region in particular, but also in the Bay of Plenty," Ms Desmarais said. "The number of young smokers, especially young Maori women, in our region is significant, and research shows more than 80 per cent of lung cancers are caused by smoking."
A significant cancer registration not mentioned in the report is skin cancer. The Bay of Plenty has some of the highest melanoma registrations in the country, the Cancer Society says.
Dr Paul Salmon, of The Skin Centre in Tauranga, believed the region's high incidence of cancer was due to a combination of factors, including a large retired population, high number of Maori and sunny weather.
Dr Salmon believed the high incidence of skin cancer in the Western Bay was contributing to the overall cancer rate, and melanoma to the death rate.
The Western Bay has twice the incidence of the melanoma of the average in New Zealand, he said - 80 per 100,000 population per year, compared to 40 per 100,000 on average.
"The biggest reason why is it's sunny here, but that comes along with several other things. Not only do people that live here all their lives get more sun than they do in other parts of the country, but people who like being in the sun tend to move here, bringing their sun-exposed skin with them."
Our large retired population was also a factor, as skin cancer was rare in people aged under 40, he said.
The region was also a popular retirement spot for people from Waikato - many of whom had also had high sun exposure, particularly those who had worked in the farming sector.
Dr Neil de Wet, medical officer of health for Toi Te Ora Public Health, said: "Our staff are currently in the process of working through this series of three reports. We will be able to provide comment about the reports once we have completed this process."
Ms Desmarais said the Cancer Society was working to reduce the impact and incidence of cancer in the Bay through free health promotion and education programmes, providing support, information and advocacy services for people affected by cancer.
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