Summary
Cervical cancer is the 12th most common cancer affecting Australian women. In 2010, 818 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and in 2011 there were 229 deaths from this disease. A screening program introduced in Australia in 1991-the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP)-has been effective at reducing cases of cervical cancer to these current levels, in line with its aim to reduce incidence, morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer.
Reporting statistics about the NCSP in a standardised way is vital to ensure that governments, researchers and health workers have access to relevant and reliable statistics about the performance of the program over time, and how changes to the cervical screening environment-such as the introduction of the National HPV Vaccination Program in 2007- may affect it.
The National cervical cancer prevention data dictionary version 1 is an assemblage of data elements developed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) to support the program's aim of achieving national consistency in data reporting through promoting standardisation and comparability of data across state and territory jurisdictions.
The objectives of the National cervical cancer prevention data dictionary version 1 are to:
- support operation and monitoring of the National Cervical Screening Program
- establish uniform definitions for the National Cervical Screening Program
- facilitate consistency across jurisdictions in national reporting, including the national reporting of performance indicators for the publication Cervical Screening in Australia
- promote uniformity, reliability, validity, consistency and completeness in the data
- support future linkages between the state and territory cervical screening registers and the National HPV Vaccination Program Register
- support potential future directions of the National Cervical Screening Program.
The National cervical cancer prevention data dictionary version 1 was developed in partnership with state and territory and Commonwealth components of the NCSP, and was endorsed by the Standing Committee on Screening for the Community Care and Population Health Principal Committee on 27 March 2014.
It comprises a comprehensive set of data elements covering the woman, HPV vaccination, provider and cervical tests (cytology, histology and HPV DNA), as well as detailed data specifications for the performance indicators of the NCSP.