Participation data help us to know the extent to which target groups are being reached.
Participation in BreastScreen Australia refers to the proportion of women aged 50–74 who are screened in a 2-year period. Participation in BreastScreen Australia is measured over 2 calendar years to align with the recommended screening interval.
Women’s participation in BreastScreen Australia
In 2019–2020:
- almost 1.8 million women aged 50–74 participated in BreastScreen Australia.
- the participation rate was 50% of women aged 50–74.
Participation by age
Women aged 65–69 had the highest participation rate (54%) in 2019–2020.
Participation by state/territory
In 2019–2020:
- the participation rate among women aged 50–74 was highest in the Australian Capital Territory (58%)
- after adjusting for difference in population age structure across the states and territories, the Australian Capital Territory participation rate was 16% higher than the national participation rate (57% and 49%, respectively).
Trends in participation
The number of women aged 50–74 who participated in BreastScreen Australia rose from 1.7 million in 2014–2015 to almost 1.9 million in 2018–2019. This rise in numbers of participating women was expected and is explained by the full implementation of the changes in the target age group from 50–69 to 50–74 that occurred in 2017. In 2019–2020 this fell slightly to almost 1.8 million, which is likely due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national age-standardised participation rate among women aged 50–74 remained around 54–55% between 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 (54% age-standardised rate in 2018–2019) but fell to 49% in 2019–2020—a 9% fall in the participation rate compared with 2018–2019.