Effectiveness of cervical cancer screening at age 65 - A register-based cohort study

PLoS One. 2019 Mar 26;14(3):e0214486. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214486. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Most cervical cancer deaths in Finland occur after the termination of the national screening program, targeted at women aged 30 to 64 years. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of screening at age 65 in reducing cervical cancer mortality. A register-based cohort study was performed with a follow-up period between 1991 and 2014. Mortality risk ratios for incident cervical cancer cases diagnosed at age 65 or older were compared between women invited and not invited for screening. The background risk difference between the studied areas was accounted for by using a reference cohort. The relative risk of death for women invited for cervical cancer screening at the age of 65 was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.29-0.94). The relative risks for women not attending and attending to screening with respect to the uninvited were 1.28 (CI: 0.65-2.50) and 0.28 (CI: 0.13-0.59), respectively. Inviting 65-year-old women for screening has been effective in reducing cervical cancer mortality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mass Screening / methods*
  • Middle Aged
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care
  • Registries*
  • Risk Assessment
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / mortality

Grants and funding

All authors are employees of the Cancer Society of Finland which provided funding for this work.