North West Cervical Screening - Introduction - The effectiveness of cervical screening

North West Cervical Screening Quality Assurance Reference Centre

The effectiveness of cervical screening

Whilst cervical screening cannot be 100% effective, cervical screening programmes have been shown to significantly reduce the cumulative incidence of cancer in a population of women.

Reduction in Cumulative incidence of Cervical Cancer

Screening interval	Reduction Incidence
Single screen	20%
5 yearly	83.6%
3 yearly	91.2%
Annual	93.3%

Coverage of the target population

One way in which the effectiveness of the programme can be judged is, by coverage. This is the percentage of women in the target age group (25 to 64) who have been screened in the last five years. If overall coverage of 80% can be achieved, the evidence suggests that a reduction in death rates of 65 to 70% is possible in the long term. Coverage of the target age group by the NHS Cervical Screening Programme has increased from 45% in 1988-89 to 78.9% in 2008-2009.

Summary of coverage of target age group (25-64) by region, 31st March 2009

Area	Number of eligible women (000's)	Coverage (less than 3.5 years since last test) (%)	Coverage (less than 5 years since last test) (%)
East Midlands	1196.4	73.9	82.4
Yorkshire & Humber	1405.5	69.4	80.2
North East	703.6	70.9	80.5
South East Coast	1196.8	69.9	80.8
South Central	1141.9	70.1	79.3
South West	1414.3	70.9	80.9
East of England	1574.6	71.0	80.2
West Midlands	1480.4	68.8	78.7
North West	1916.7	68.5	78.5
London	2461.5	65.2	73.8
ENGLAND	14491.6	69.3	78.9