19.10.12
Little change to cervical screening figures over past decade
Cervical screening figures show that little has changed in a decade, with around 1 in 5 women still not being screened every five years.
Under the NHS screening programme, all women between the ages of 25 and 64 are invited to undergo screening to aid in the detection and prevention of cell abnormalities in the cervix, thereby helping prevent diseases such as cervical cancer. Figures suggest that one of the biggest risk factors of developing cervical cancer stems from women who do not undergo regular screening.
Coverage, defined as the percentage of eligible women who were screened within a three and a half year period for 25-49 year olds, and a five-year span for 50-64 year olds, is measured to analyse the number of eligible women who do and do not get screened. Comparing coverage figures between 2002 and 2012, data suggests that screening figures have remained negligibly unchanged, and have even declined over the past decade.
Results from the Cervical Screening Programme, conducted by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), show that of the two age groups, coverage results from 2002 and 2012 were at a respective 71.7% and 73.5% in women aged 25-49, with a record low of 69.3% in 2008; in comparison, coverage saw a steady decline from 81.6% to 78.6% in the years 2002-12 in women aged 50-64. These figures translate to suggest that roughly 1 in 5 women still do not undergo screening as regularly as advised.
Tim Straughan, chief executive of the HSCIC said: “Today’s figures suggest that the proportion of women who have not had an adequate test within the last five years has remained broadly similar over the last decade – with about one in five not having screening within five years.”
For more comprehensive results of the Cervical Screening Programme, see: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/cervscreen1112
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