Cancer screening programs: quarterly data

Data revisions of the July 2023 release

The 2021–2022 population data by age and State and territory were revised. Hence, participation rates (where relevant) have been updated in Figure 1: BreastScreen Australia participation data by state and territory, by age group and by year.

July 2023 release updates

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the March quarter 2023 added with state and territory disaggregates.

BreastScreen Australia activity data for the March quarter 2023 added with state and territory disaggregates.

Updated National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the March quarter 2023 added with state and territory disaggregates.

Participation

Updated to include National Bowel Screening Program participation data by state and territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for the 2020–2021 period with the final data.

Updated to include BreastScreen Australia participation by state and territory in 2021–2022 preliminary data.

April 2023 release updates

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the December quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

BreastScreen Australia activity data for the December quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the December quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates. 

Participation

Updated National Cervical Screening Program to include 5-year preliminary participation data by state and territory and age group for the 2018–2022 period.

January 2023 release updates

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the September quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

BreastScreen Australia activity data for the September quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the September quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

Participation

Updated to include National Bowel Screening Program participation data by state and territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for the 2020–2021 period with the preliminary data.

Updated to include National Cervical Screening Program participation data by state and territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for the 2018–2021 period (final version of data). From this release onward the method of geographical assignment now changed with SA2 areas directly available within data and PHN and SA3 areas assigned via SA2 correspondence rather than postcode.

October 2022 release updates

Amendments

In-text figures relating to the total participation of people aged 50-74 in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program were rounded down, rather than up which more accurately reflects the figure. All numbers in data tables are exact and have not required amendment.

When describing the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer screening across 2019, 2020, and 2021, the numbers originally used to illustrate the number of screening mammograms within these years were drawn from women aged 40+. While the trends were correctly described, it is more appropriate to restrict these numbers to the target population of women aged 50-74. Changes have been made to reflect this.

The figure presented regarding the difference is age-standardised participation rates for ACT and Australia overall was presented in percentage points, rather than the percentage difference. That is, while the age-standardised rate of ACT was 10 percentage points higher than that of Australia, this reflected a 13% difference in value. It is more appropriate to indicate this relative difference, rather than percentage point difference when discussing age-standardised rates.

The ABS 2016 reference pertaining to the Australian Statistical Geographic Standards (ASGS) was erroneously named the same as the 2011 edition (though correctly linked to the 2016 edition). It was important to change this for clarity relating to correspondence data.

The downloadable excel tables required re-uploading as the current version was a historical, less polished version that had minor naming and/or grammatical errors in some table names and footnotes. Please note that all data was correct.

The downloadable zip file for the Activity data required re-uploading as the current version was a historical, less polished version. The zip file was incorrectly named and the data was incorrectly sorted, though all data values were correct.

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the June quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

BreastScreen Australia activity data for the June quarter 2022 added with state and territory disaggregates.

Updated National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the June quarter 2022 added.

Participation

Updated to include National Bowel Screening Program participation data by state and territory, PHN, and SA3 and age group for the 2019–2020 period with final data. From 2019–2020 period onward method of geographical assignment now changed with SA2 areas directly available within data and PHN and SA3 areas assigned via SA2 correspondence rather than postcode.

July 2022 release updates

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the March quarter 2022 added and for the first time, disaggregated by state and territory.

BreastScreen Australia activity data from March quarter 2021 to March 2022 were added with state and territory disaggregates.

National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the March quarter 2022 added and for the first time, were disaggregated by state and territory.

Participation

Updated to include National Bowel Screening Program participation data by state and territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for the 2019–2020 period with the preliminary data.

Updated to include BreastScreen Australia preliminary participation data by state and territory and age group for the 2020–2021 period. Participation by SA3 in 2019–2020 was updated for Queensland.

Updated to include National Cervical Screening Program preliminary participation data by state and territory and age group for the 2018–2021 period (interim estimates).

May 2022 release updates

Activity

National Bowel Cancer Screening Program activity data for the December quarter 2021 added.

Updated National Cervical Screening Program activity data from the March quarter 2018 onwards and activity data for the December quarter 2021 added.

BreastScreen Australia activity data from March quarter 2014 to December 2020 were added for the first time.

Participation

Updated BreastScreen Australia participation data by state and territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for the 2019–2020 period.

Updated National Cervical Screening Program participation data by state or territory, PHN and SA3 and age group for 2018–2020.