Screening detection reduces cancer deaths

Cancers found through screening are less likely to cause death than cancers diagnosed in people who have never been screened.

‘For women diagnosed with breast cancer, the risk of death was 42 per cent lower among those diagnosed through BreastScreen Australia than those who had never screened.

Breast, cervical and bowel cancers detected through national screening programs are less likely to cause death than cancers diagnosed in people who have never been screened.

According to a landmark analysis from the Australian ­Institute of Health and Welfare today, 5 per cent of cervical cancer, 11 per cent of bowel cancer, and 44 per cent of breast cancer cases in the decade to 2012 were diagnosed as a result of screening.

Women whose cervical cancer was detected through a screen had an 87 per cent lower risk of dying than those who had never had a Pap test.

The risk of dying from bowel cancer was 40 per cent lower for people aged 50-69 who were ­diagnosed through the screening program. For breast cancer, the findings were similar to an international study that in 2015 found a 40 per cent reduced risk of dying, although the institute was unable to determine how many cancers may never have become clinically apparent without screening.

“For women diagnosed with breast cancer, the risk of death was 42 per cent lower among those diagnosed through BreastScreen Australia than those who had never screened,” institute spokesman Justin Harvey said.

That was the case even after accounting for possible earlier diagnosis and participation biases.

The institute plans further analysis of breast screening ­results, including for those outside the target age group, and will also look further into the relationship between human papillomavirus vaccination and cervical screening and diagnosis.