What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow and multiply out of control. Breast cancer originates in the small lobes of the breast that produce milk or more commonly the ducts that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple. Breast cancer can be confined to the lobes or ducts, in which case it is called lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), or it can have spread to the surrounding tissue, in which case it is called invasive breast cancer.
Excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian women, with almost 13,500 new cases diagnosed in 2008 and 2,700 deaths in 2007. Although much research has been conducted into all aspects of this disease, there is still no clear answer as to the cause of breast cancer and as yet no means for preventing the disease.
About BreastScreen Australia
BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer by screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women, enabling intervention at an early stage. Finding breast cancer early often means that the cancer is small, which is associated with increased treatment options and improved survival.
BreastScreen Australia actively targets women aged 50–69 for free screening mammograms every two years. Although the target group are women aged 50–69, all women aged 40 years and over are eligible to receive free screening mammograms through BreastScreen Australia.
For more information on BreastScreen Australia, see (link to most recent breast screening publication).
Participation in BreastScreen Australia
Just over half (54.6%) of targeted women in Australia had a screening mammogram through BreastScreen Australia in 2010 or 2011. Participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was lower at 36.2%.
Analysis of participation rates by remoteness shows that participation was highest in Outer regional locations at 58.5%, and that BreastScreen also reaches 45.8% of women in Very remote locations, which shows that the service is accessible to most women.
Participation increased slightly with higher socioeconomic status but this trend was small. All socioeconomic groups had participation rates between 53% and 55%.
These participation rates are similar to previous years.
Data
Please contact the Cancer screening team if you require this data in alternative formats.
Further information
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For more information on BreastScreen Australia please visit www.cancerscreening.gov.au.