Why are there more than one type of results for some measures?

There is a choice of three types of results for cancer diagnosis, cancer survival and hospital treatment.

Geographical patterns (average) – provides a snapshot of geographical patterns for the latest available time period (up to 10 years). Information is available for both relative and absolute map views.

Geographical patterns for each time period – shows how geographical patterns across Australia have changed over different time periods. This is available for relative estimates only, where the area-specific rates for each time period are compared to the Australian average for that time period.

Changes over time for each geographical area – shows how the rates for each SA2 have changed over all time periods with data available. This is also available for relative estimates only, where the area-specific rates for each time period are compared to the Australian average over the combined time period. These changes reflect the national trends over time in many cases.

For cancer screening, PSA testing and cancer risk factors, only Geographical Patterns (average) is accessible.