Technical notes
Terminology
This report uses the terms ‘participants’ and ‘invitees’ when referring to data collected under the NCSP. These data are not restricted by sex or gender, with all cervical screening participants and invitees included in these data. For NCSP data, participants and invitees may include women, transgender men, intersex people, and non-binary people.
This report uses the term 'women' to mean ‘female' when referring to cancer incidence data and cancer mortality data as these data sources are based on sex assigned at birth. However, it should be noted that some people may not identify with this term.
Abbreviations
Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
ABS | Australian Bureau of Statistics |
ACD | Australian Cancer Database |
ACT | Australian Capital Territory |
AIHW | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
AIS | adenocarcinoma in situ |
AS | age-standardised |
ASC | adenosquamous carcinoma |
ASGS | Australian Statistical Geography Standard |
CALD | culturally and linguistically diverse |
CIN 1 | cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 |
CIN 2 | cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 |
CIN 3 | cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 |
CST | Cervical Screening Test |
d | definite |
ERP | estimated resident population |
DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
HPV | human papillomavirus |
HPV NAT | human papillomavirus nucleic acid testing |
HSIL | high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion |
ICD | International Classification of Disease |
ICD-O-3 | International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition |
LBC | liquid based cytology |
LSIL | low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion |
NACCHO | National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation |
NCSP | National Cervical Screening Program |
NCSR | National Cancer Screening Register |
NHMD | National Hospital Morbidity Database |
nKPI | national Key Performance Indicator |
NMD | National Mortality Database |
NOS | not otherwise specified |
NIP | National Immunisation Program |
NSW | New South Wales |
NT | Northern Territory |
p | possible |
PPV | positive predictive value |
Qld | Queensland |
RA | remoteness area |
RDE | raw data extract |
SA | South Australia |
SCC | squamous cell carcinoma |
SEIFA | Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas |
Tas | Tasmania |
Vic | Victoria |
WA | Western Australia |
Symbols
Symbol | Description |
|---|---|
. . | not applicable |
n.a. | not available |
n.p. | not publishable because of small numbers, confidentiality, or other concerns about the quality of the data |
< | less than |
> | greater than |
Performance indicator definition and/or methodology changes in this report
As identified in Table Data 1: Summary of National Cervical Screening Program performance indicators, specifications and/or methodology have changed in 2025 for some performance indicators.
These are summarised in Table Technical notes 3 below.
Performance indicator | Specification/methodology change |
|---|---|
PI 1 - Participation | Participation and coverage have been replaced with a new, single measure of participation. This new definition of participation includes all HPV tests rather than only screening HPV tests (participation) or all HPV and LBC tests (coverage); the most recent test is selected instead of the first test; and it is measured over 5.5 years instead of 5 years. |
PI 10 - Adherence to recommendation for follow-up | Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 11 - Follow-up results | Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 12 - Colposcopy rate | Higher risk category First follow-up test HPV 16/18 + any LBC or HPV (not 16/18) + high-grade/glandular LBC now also includes first follow-up test HPV (not 16/18) + negative/low-grade LBC in participants who are under-screened, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or aged 50 or over. Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 13 – Time to colposcopy | Higher risk category First follow-up test HPV 16/18 + any LBC or HPV (not 16/18) + high-grade/glandular LBC now also includes first follow-up test HPV (not 16/18) + negative/low-grade LBC in participants who are under-screened, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or aged 50 or over. Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 15 - Yield of high-grade abnormalities on biopsy among participants who attend colposcopy after higher risk screening results | Higher risk category First follow-up test HPV 16/18 + any LBC or HPV (not 16/18) + high-grade/glandular LBC now also includes first follow-up test HPV (not 16/18) + negative/low-grade LBC in participants who are under-screened, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or aged 50 or over. Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 16 – Positive predictive value of colposcopy | Higher risk category First follow-up test HPV 16/18 + any LBC or HPV (not 16/18) + high-grade/glandular LBC now also includes first follow-up test HPV (not 16/18) + negative/low-grade LBC in participants who are under-screened, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or aged 50 or over. Definition of first follow-up and second follow-up have been modified to more accurately capture these episodes. |
PI 17a – High-grade cervical abnormality detection rate | Definition of high-grade histology has been changed to remove endocervical dysplasia, and denominator is now only participants with an HPV test (instead of participants with an HPV or LBC test). |
PI 17b - Cervical cancer detection rate | Definition of cervical cancer has been changed to incident cervical cancers, and denominator is now only participants with an HPV test (instead of participants with an HPV or LBC test). |
Impact of COVID-19
Coronaviruses are common viruses that cause respiratory diseases, ranging from the common cold to more severe illnesses. COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2019 and declared an international pandemic on 11 March 2020 (WHO 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of life, including access to health services like cancer screening programs. In Australia, COVID-19 restrictions introduced in March 2020 led to the suspension or modification of healthcare services. This likely influenced access to cervical screening.
Cancer screening and COVID-19 in Australia reports (AIHW 2020; AIHW 2021) examined the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s national cancer screening programs, revealing a drop in cervical screening tests in April and May 2020. Later reporting demonstrated that this was lower than what would be expected compared to the number of cervical screening tests in April and May 2021. This decrease aligns with the strict restrictions in place during that period, which began to ease in late April 2020.
Additionally, the pandemic may have impacted the Estimated Resident Populations (ERPs) used for participation, incidence, and mortality calculations. This is outlined in more detail in the box below.
Box Technical notes 1: Impact of COVID-19 on Estimated Resident Populations
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting Australian Government closure of the international border from 20 March 2020, caused significant disruptions to the usual Australian population trends. This report uses Australian Estimated Resident Population (ERP) estimates that reflect these disruptions.
In the 12-month period July 2020 to June 2021, the overall population growth was much smaller than the years prior, and in particular, there was a relatively large decline in the population of Victoria. ABS reporting indicates these were primarily due to net-negative international migration (ABS 2021).
This change in the usual population trends may complicate interpretation of statistics calculated from these ERPs. For example, rates and proportions may be greater than in previous years due to decreases in the denominator (population) of some sub-populations.
ABS (2021) National, state and territory population, June 2021, ABS website, accessed 23 May 2022.
AIHW (2020) Cancer screening and COVID-19 in Australia, catalogue number CAN 136, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 15 November 2020.
AIHW (2021) Cancer screening and COVID-19 in Australia, catalogue number CAN 137, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 24 March 2021.
WHO (World Health Organization) (2020) Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, accessed 22 January 2021.