Glossary
Age-standardisation: a method of removing the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is usually necessary because the rates of many diseases vary strongly (usually increasing) with age. The age structures of the different populations are converted to the same ‘standard’ structure; then the disease rates that would have occurred with that structure are calculated and compared.
Cancer: refers to a large range of diseases in which some of the body’s cells become defective, begin to multiply out of control, can invade and damage the area around them, and can also spread to other parts of the body to cause further damage.
Cancer incidence: the number of new cancers diagnosed during a specified time period (usually one year).
Cancer mortality: the number of deaths occurring during a specified time period (usually one year) for which the underlying cause of death is cancer.
Chemotherapy: The use of drugs (chemicals) to prevent or treat disease, with the term being applied for treatment of cancer rather than for other uses.
Crude rate: The number of events in a given period divided by the size of the population at risk in a specified time period. death due to cancer: A death where the underlying cause is indicated as cancer.
De novo: The first occurrence of cancer in the body.
Diagnosis: The process of identifying cancer based on its signs and symptoms. A definitive diagnosis of cancer can only be made by a pathologist.
Incidence: The number of new cases (of an illness or event, and so on) in a given period.
Mammogram: A radiographic depiction of the breast.
Medicare Benefits Scheme: The MBS is part of Australia’s public health insurance scheme. Through the Scheme, the Australian Government subsidises the costs of a wide range of health services.
Menarche: The first menstrual period.
Metastasis: See Secondary site cancer.
Metastatic breast cancer: Breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
MIAMOD: Mortality Incidence Approach MODel, a statistical method used to estimate disease prevalence based on incidence and deaths data alone.
Mortality due to cancer: The number of deaths that occurred during a specified period (usually a year) for which the underlying cause of death was recorded as cancer.
National Health Data Hub: The NHDH is AIHW’s major national data linkage system for health and welfare research and analysis.
Observed survival: Observed survival considers whether people diagnosed with breast cancer survive the period; it should be noted for observed survival that a person diagnosed with cancer may have a cause of death other than cancer.
Pathology: The study of disease processes. A specialist in this field is called a pathologist. Sub-specialised diagnostic activities with relevance for cancer are histopathology/histology (microscopic examination and description of tissue) and haematopathology (the microscopic examination and description of blood and lymph).
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme: The PBS is a national, government-funded scheme that subsidises the cost of a wide range of pharmaceutical drugs for all Australians. The Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits (schedule) lists all the medicinal products available under the PBS and explains the uses for which they can be subsidised.
Prevalence: the number of people alive with a prior diagnosis of cancer, at a given time.
Probabilistic data linkage: a method used to link records from different datasets by using mathematical probabilities to calculate the likelihood that a pair of records refers to the same person or entity, even when unique identifiers are not available or cannot be used.
Projection: Longer-term extrapolation of recent trend data using unknown parameters such as expected future populations.
Radiotherapy: The use of high-energy radiation from x-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, protons, and other sources to kill cancer cells and shrink tumours. The radiation source may be applied externally, or internally.
Recurrence: Cancer that has returned (recurred) after a period of remission. The cancer may recur at the primary site, or elsewhere in the body, as a secondary tumour.
Relative survival: The probability of an individual being alive for a given amount of time after diagnosis (such as one or 5 years) compared with the corresponding general population.
Risk factor: Any factor that represents a greater risk of a health disorder or other unwanted condition or event. Some risk factors are regarded as causes of disease, others are not necessarily so. Along with their opposites, namely protective factors, risk factors are known as ‘determinants’.
Screening: Testing or examination of asymptomatic individuals for a specific cancer. The screening process may be indiscriminate, opportunistic (during a routine health check) or systematic.
Secondary site cancer: A tumour that originated from a cancer elsewhere in the body. Also referred to as a metastasis.
Stage: The extent of a cancer in the body. Staging is usually based on the size of the tumour, whether lymph nodes contain cancer, and whether cancer has spread from the original site to other parts of the body.
Survival: A general term indicating the probability of being alive for a given amount of time after a particular event, such as diagnosis of cancer.
Targeted (molecular-based) treatments: Improved understanding of the molecular characteristics of tumours, and the genetic causes, have led to targeted, precision or personalised treatments for some cancers. An example is the use of Herceptin to treat HER-2 type breast cancers (those that have a mutation of the HER-2 gene).