Latest report shows continued positive results for Australian breast screening program

This year’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) BreastScreen Australia monitoring report, released during Breast Cancer Awareness month, shows continued positive results from the screening program, which has helped diagnose a significant proportion of cases.
 
‘About 44% of the almost 73,500 breast cancers diagnosed in 2002–12 were diagnosed through BreastScreen Australia,’ AIHW spokesperson Justin Harvey said.
 
Breast cancer remains the most common cancer diagnosed in Australian women, at a rate of 326 cases per 100,000 women. It is also the second most common cause of cancer-related death in Australian women.
 
However, mortality as a result of breast cancer has significantly decreased from 74 deaths per 100,000 women aged 50–74 when BreastScreen Australia began in 1991, to a rate of fewer than 50 since 2010.
 
More than half of women (55%) who are targeted by BreastScreen Australia take part in the program, which put its participation rates on a par with the cervical screening program and ahead of colorectal screening.
 
Only a small proportion of program participants are recalled for further investigation due to their screening results; in 2016, this equalled 12% of women screening for the first time and 4% of women attending subsequent screens.
 
More than half of breast cancers detected by screening were small, at fewer than 15 mm in diameter, meaning women usually have the possibility of accessing a wider range of treatment options and have greater chances of survival. This early detection contributes to the AIHW’s finding that those whose breast cancer was detected through national screening programs often have better outcomes.
 
‘The risk of death was 42% lower among [women] diagnosed through BreastScreen Australia than those who had never been screened,’ Mr Harvey said.
 
However, the report also identified some areas for improvement, especially among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, who have a participation rate of 39% compared to 54% for non-Indigenous Australian women.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women subsequently experience higher mortality rates from breast cancer, despite having lower incidence of the disease, and are considered an important population to target for increased screening.

Breast Cancer Awareness month BreastScreen Australia cancer screening program