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 78.6% in 2007-2008.

Summary of coverage of target age group (25-64) by region, 31st March 2008

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	1082.8	74.3	82.4
Yorkshire & Humber	1286.5	68.0	79.8
North East	646.1	72.3	80.0
South East Coast	1090.0	71.9	80.6
South Central	1046.2	68.2	78.7
South West	1283.0	68.6	80.4
East of England	1433.8	68.3	79.3
West Midlands	1362.0	70.6	78.7
North West	1751.2	69.4	78.2
London	2323.5	64.7	73.4
ENGLAND	13305.2	69.0	78.6