Mass Screening for Cancer of the Uterine Cervix in Østfold County, Norway: <i>An Experiment</i>

Abstract

Periodic mass screening for cervical cancer has been carried out in a defined population in Norway since 1959, the main objective being to evaluate various aspects of such a programme. The study population consists of 46 500 women, 25–59 years of age at the start of the programme. Attendance has been falling at successive screenings. Among those who never attended, the incidence of cervical cancer is high and the disease tends to be diagnosed at a late stage. Cases detected at the periodic screening are generally in an early stage and the tumours are usually of relatively low‐grade malignancy. In contrast, cases diagnosed between screenings in women who have attended at least once, are more advanced and the majority are poorly differentiated tumours. The mortality rate in this group is high. The stage distribution of invasive cases in the total study population has improved substantially whereas the effect of the programme on the incidence of the disease so far has been less striking.