Screening and cancer prevention
Screening can help protect your health through early detection of disease, even if you don’t have any symptoms. Screening can reduce the risk of developing, or dying from, a disease but it does not guarantee that a disease will not occur, or that it can be cured.
Screening involves a test to look for particular changes, or early signs of a disease either before it has developed or in its early stages before any symptoms develop. No screening test is 100% accurate so it is important to be screened at regular intervals.
Population screening
A screening test offered to a large group of healthy people to detect early signs of a disease is called population screening. The people (population group) identified to participate in population screening are targeted because there is strong scientific evidence that they are most at risk of getting the disease and will get the most health benefit from screening.
The aim of population screening is to reduce the burden of the disease and provide health benefits to the community.
Population-based screening in Queensland
Three national population-based screening programs are available in Queensland for eligible people. These are:
- BreastScreen Queensland Program
- Queensland Cervical Screening Program
- Queensland Bowel Cancer Screening Program
Other types of screening
Your doctor may offer other screening tests, depending on your gender, age or circumstances (for example family history). These are not part of population screening programs. Blood tests to check cholesterol or iron levels are examples of these screening tests.
Screening tests are different to diagnostic tests. A diagnostic test is done if you already have symptoms of a disease to prove whether or not a disease is present.
Reduce your risk of cancer
About 2600 cancer deaths in Queensland each year are due to overweight and obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, harmful alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake and related risk factors.
You can reduce your risk of some cancers by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
- Quit smoking
- Eat for health
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Be SunSmart
- Limit alcohol
- Move your body
- Get checked
For more information visit the Cancer Council website or call 13 11 20.
