Background: Quality indicators for the Brazilian cervical cancer screening programme can provide a perspective on its effectiveness in Brazilian macro-regions and states. The aim of this study was to perform a trend analysis of the cervical cancer screening program's quality indicators, according to Brazilian regions and states, from 2006 to 2013.
Methods: Using information from approximately 62,000,000 exams obtained from the Information System of Cervical Cancer Screening (SISCOLO), joinpoint analysis was used to calculate the Annual Percentage Change (APC).
Results: The estimated number of women in the target age group (25-64 years) who underwent Pap testing over a three-year interval was lower than that recommended by international guidelines in the North, Northeast and Midwest regions, and the trends for this indicator remained stationary over the years in all regions of Brazil. Overall, the index of positivity in Brazilian regions and states is below that preconized by the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA). Additionally, the frequencies of unsatisfactory cases are in line with international guidelines but above those preconized by INCA guidelines. All positive cytological diagnoses were lower than those preconized by INCA.
Conclusions: The results show that the cervical cancer screening programme is still far from efficient because most of the quality indicators in Brazilian regions and states are outside of the parameters preconized by national and international organizations.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Indicators; Pap test; Screening; Time series studies; Trends.