Mass screening for cervical cancer in Norway: evaluation of the pilot project.

The Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs initiated a national screening program for cervical cancer in 1990, with all women aged 25 to 70 years to be offered cervical screening every three years. During the first three years of the program (November 1991-October 1994), all spontaneous cervical cytology in Norway was recorded at the Norwegian Cancer Registry. In addition, women in the counties of Vestfold and Sør-Trøndelag were invited individually to be screened. The aim of the present study was principally to evaluate the organization aspects of a nationwide, population-based screening program for cervical cancer in Norway. Special attention was paid to the coverage, the attendance rate, and the cytologic findings in the two-county study area. A total of 1,581,379 Pap smears were recorded from November 1991 to October 1994. Most smears were taken from women under age 30 years (31.7 percent). About 25 percent of the women aged 25 to 29 years had more than one normal smear. In the study area, a coverage of about 71 percent in the age group 25 to 69 years was achieved. The pilot project also has shown that it is possible to recruit elderly women into screening. However, no difference was noted between the study and the reference area with regard to findings per smear of precursor lesions (CIN 3, modified SNOMED coding system). The experiences from three years of recording and the implementation of the pilot project have provided useful guidelines for the national screening which began in January 1995.

Cervical mass screening in Norway--510,000 smears a year.

In 1990 the Norwegian Department of Health and Social Affairs decided to start a national screening program for cervical cancer. All women aged 25 to 70 years are offered cervical screening every 3 years. The mass screening is organized and run by a central unit, comprising the Cancer Registry of Norway and the National Health Screening Service. For the first 3 years, all spontaneous cervical screening in Norway is recorded in a central, computerized register. In addition, a pilot project has been implemented in two counties to evaluate the organizational aspects of the screening program. A total of 509,641 cervical smears were recorded during the first year of registration. The test frequency was highest in the age group 20 to 29 years (28.4%), while relatively few tests were performed on women in the age group 60 to 69 years (6.6%). The majority of smears (88.6%) had normal tissue morphology, whereas 2.9% displayed different cytological abnormalities. Human papillomavirus (HPV) changes and mild (CIN 1) and moderate (CIN 2) dysplasia had the highest smear rate in women under 40 years. Malignant cellular changes had the highest rate in older age groups. The imbalance in the age distribution of smears and the confinement of cytological abnormalities to the youngest and the oldest age groups support the wide target age range of the screening program.

[Mass screening for cervical cancer. A one-year registration of cervical cytological tests]. / Masseundersøkelsen for livmorhalskreft. Ett års registrering av cervixcytologiske prøver.

In 1990 the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs decided to start an organised screening programme for cervical cancer. All women aged 25-70 years will be offered screening every three years. During the first three years of the programme, all spontaneous screening in Norway is to be reported to a central unit located at the Cancer Registry of Norway. A pilot project has been implemented in the counties of Sør-Trøndelag and Vestfold to evaluate the organisational aspects of the screening programme. A total of 509,641 smears were recorded during the first year of recording. The majority of smears were taken from women below 50 years. Most smears (88.6%) had normal tissue morphology, while 2.9% displayed various cellular changes. Smears from younger women showed the highest rate of Human papillomavirus (HPV) changes and mild (CIN 1) and moderate (CIN 2) dysplasias, whereas the rated malignant cellular changes was highest in the older age groups. The findings support the wide age range of the target group.