The Australian Cancer Database (ACD) is a data collection of all primary, malignant cancers diagnosed in Australia since 1982, excluding basal and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin.

The ACD is compiled at the AIHW from cancer data provided by state and territory cancer registries through the Australasian Association of Cancer Registries.

These population-based cancer registries receive information on cancer diagnoses from a variety of sources, such as: hospitals; pathology laboratories; radiotherapy centres; and registries of births, deaths and marriages. Data collection and coding practices are standardised when state and territory data are compiled into a single, national database.

The ACD includes the following details in line with the agreed minimum data set but is not limited to: name; sex; date of birth; Indigenous status; country of birth; and date, age and cancer details for each diagnosis.

The ACD is a data collection of all primary, malignant cancers diagnosed in Australia since 1982. Note: (i) national data on non-melanoma skin cancers, besides BCC and SCC, are complete from 2001 only, and (ii) data on myelodysplastic syndromes and some myeloproliferative cancers are complete from 2003 only.

Administrative. The cancer data collected by the Australian Cancer Registry is used to report on national cancer statistics such as incidence, trends, projections, survival and prevalence.

National and State

The Registry was established by the Health (Notification of Cancer) Regulations 1981 and data collection and usage is now covered by the Health (Western Australian Cancer Register) Regulations 2011. Cancer is a notifiable disease in all Australian states and territories. The relevant legislation requires certain individuals and organisations to notify all new cases of cancer to the jurisdiction's central cancer registry. These registries supply data annually to the AIHW, which cleans and standardises the data, notifies the registries of inter-state duplicates and produces the Australian Cancer Database.