Comparisons of accessibility by socioeconomic area
This analysis shows a relationship between spatial accessibility of BreastScreen services for women in Australia and collective socioeconomic characteristics:
- For the total population of women aged 50–74, analysis used the ABS’ Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) to classify areas (Statistical Areas Level 1) into 10 deciles, from the most disadvantaged (first decile) to the most advantaged (tenth decile).
- For First Nations women aged 50–74, analysis used the Australia National University’s Indigenous Relative Socioeconomic Outcomes (IRSEO) index to classify areas (Indigenous Areas) into 10 deciles, from the most advantaged (first decile) to the most disadvantaged (tenth decile).
The results show that the proportion of women who live closer to screening services varies by both IRSAD decile and IRSEO decile, with a general trend of lower accessibility for more disadvantaged areas.
For example, the proportion of women who live within a 20-minute drive of a permanently open service ranges from 62% in the most disadvantaged IRSAD decile to 97% in the most advantaged decile. The presence of visiting services lifts accessibility markedly, with 92% of women in the most disadvantaged decile living within a 20-minute drive of a service open at least every 2 years.
Among First Nations women, there is an even stronger accessibility trend across IRSEO deciles. No First Nations women in the most disadvantaged IRSEO decile live within a 2-hour drive of a permanent service, and only 55% live within a 2-hour drive of a service open at least every 2 years.
Figure 4: The proportion of women, aged 50–74, by drive time to a BreastScreen Australia screening service location, by service frequency, Indigenous status and socioeconomic area decile
A set of 2 interactive graphs. The first is a column graph showing the proportion of all women living within different drive time cut-offs of a BreastScreen Australia screening service location, by Index of Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage, or IRSAD, decile. The proportion who live within a given cut-off increases with increasing advantage. The second is a column graph showing the proportion of First Nations women living within different drive time cut-offs of a service location, by Indigenous Relative Socioeconomic Outcomes, or IRSEO, decile. The proportion who live within a given cut-off generally increases with increased advantage. Refer to Tables S5 and S6 in data tables.