How to assess breast cancer risk

GPs and health professionals are encouraged to use validated risk assessment tools to help assess a patient’s breast cancer risk and provide appropriate advice and recommendations.

iPrevent breast cancer risk assessment tool

iPrevent is a validated breast cancer risk assessment and risk management decision support tool. It's designed to facilitate prevention and screening discussions between women and their doctors.

It takes about 30 minutes to complete an assessment. Once data entry is complete, a woman’s risk category, as defined by Cancer Australia, is calculated.

Risk categories
Average risk

< 1.5 times population risk

Moderate risk (somewhat increased)

1.5 to 3 times population risk

High risk (substantially increased)

> 3 times population risk

Assess risk of breast cancer with the iPrevent tool

Note: the Familial Risk Assessment – Breast and Ovarian Cancer (FRA-BOC) tool is no longer available on the Cancer Australia website. It’s been replaced by iPrevent.

Women with a family history of breast cancer

Women at high risk of breast cancer may be eligible for one of the following services in Queensland Health outside of the BreastScreen Queensland Program.

Breast Cancer Family Clinic

Women aged between 30 and 49 who meet the Cancer Australia high risk category criteria can attend the Breast Cancer Family Clinic at Chermside in Brisbane. The Breast Cancer Family Clinic is co-located with the BreastScreen Queensland Northside service but is not part of the program. It refers women for screening with BreastScreen Queensland if appropriate.

The clinic provides the following services:

  • documentation of the family tree
  • a personalised risk assessment
  • development of a personalised multi-modal breast screening schedule
  • referral for genetic testing with Genetic Health Queensland
  • referral for preventative surgery including preventative mastectomy.

A referral is required for the clinic. Referral forms can be completed in hard copy (PDF, 102KB) or online (PDF, 555KB). They should then be printed and posted or faxed to the clinic.

Postal Address:

PO Box 227
Virginia Business Centre
Virginia QLD 4014

Fax: 07 3350 7457

Street Address:

Breast Cancer Family Clinic
c/o BreastScreen Queensland Brisbane Northside
534 Hamilton Road
Chermside QLD 4032

Phone: 07 3350 7425 or 07 3350 7419

Email: Breast_Cancer_Family_Clinic@health.qld.gov.au

Familial Breast Cancer Clinic (Metro South Health)

The Familial Breast Cancer Clinic at the Princess Alexandra Hospital provides a specialised service for well women aged 30 to 65 who have either been:

  • assessed based on clinical classification systems to be at high risk of developing familial breast cancer
  • proven to have a genetic mutation predisposing to familial breast cancer.

The clinic provides assessment and counselling services to women and offer advice regarding further management options.

A referral is required. You can find the minimum referral criteria and referral forms on the Metro South website.

Last updated: July 2026