Cervical cancer screening in an urban population in Taiwan: five-year results.
OBJECTIVE
To review the first five years of the educational and cervical cancer screening program (ECCSP) at twelve public health centers in the metropolitan area of Taipei and to measure whether the ECCSP had an impact on cancer patterns.


METHODS
We used data for cervical cancers diagnosed between 1986 and 1991 from all hospitals in Taipei and from the national cancer registry. During this time period, 2 158 cervical cancers were diagnosed from thirty-nine hospitals in Taipei city, of which 5% were identified after referral from the ECCSP:


RESULTS
The percentage of early cervical cancers, defined as stage 0 or Ia, was 70% in women referred from the ECCSP, compared with 20% for women who were not referred from the ECCSP (P < 0.001). All age groupings also demonstrated this similar difference. The case-fatality rate of cervical cancer was significantly lower for ECCSP referred patients (8 of 106, 7.5%) than for non-ECCSP referred patients (401 of 2 051, 19.6%) during this study period (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
This information suggests that the ECCSP has had a remarkable impact on the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. It is expected that a well organized screening program will be applied to a large target population from young to old adults so that the program can be effective for reducing the mortality rate of cervical cancer in Taiwan.
Pair
D W
DW
Taipei Wanhwa District Health Center, Taiwan.
Ruey
S L
SL
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*