While breast cancer is still the biggest cause of cancer death
in Australian women, death rates continue to fall due to early
detection and better treatment, says a report released today by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report 2001-2002
shows that the age-standardised mortality rate for women in the
screening target age group (50-69 years) has fallen from 68 per
100,000 in 1993, shortly after national screening started, to 57
per 100,000 women in 2002.
Dr Chris Stevenson of the AIHW's Health Registers and Cancer
Monitoring Unit says earlier detection and treatment have
contributed to the decline, due in large part to the high
participation by women in the BreastScreen Australia Program.
'A total of just over 1.6 million women participated in
BreastScreen Australia screening in 2001-02. Of these women, 1.1
million (68%) were in the screening program target age group of
50-69 years, which represents a rise in age-adjusted participation
of five percentage points since 1996, when national data were first
compiled,' says Dr Stevenson.
As a consequence, there has been a subsequent increase in new
cases of breast cancer detected among this age group, from 270 new
cancers per 100,000 women in 1996 to 305 per 100,000 women in
2001.
But, says Dr Stevenson, detection of early stage smaller cancers
coupled with the significant advances in treatment has meant fewer
women are dying as a consequence.
'In 2002, 64% of women with a screen-detected breast cancer in
the target age group were women with early stage small cancers
rather than the potentially more dangerous later-stage larger
cancers.
'More significantly, women who had previously been screened had
a higher proportion of small rather than larger invasive cancers
detected than women who had not been screened before (66% compared
with 54%). This shows that ongoing screening is key to the
program.'
It's not all good news, however, with some areas of concern
still apparent.
'Participation rates for Indigenous women and women from a
non-English-speaking background in the target age group were 35%
and 47% respectively. This was significantly lower than the
national rate of 57%,' Dr Stevenson said.
23 February 2005
Further information: Dr Chris Stevenson, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1041.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of BreastScreen Australia
Monitoring Report 2001-02, February 2005.