Mass screening for cancer of the uterine cervix in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Effects and problems.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of and problems with mass screening and in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.


METHODS
About 3,570,000 females who underwent mass screening for cervical cancer between 1962 and 1994.


RESULTS
The screening rate in the female population aged 30 years or older was 9.5% in 1970, gradually increased and exceeded that rate in 1991 but showed only slight changes thereafter. The standardized death rate due to malignant neoplasm of the cervix fell from 12.1 per 100,000 in 1961 to 4.0 in 1994.


CONCLUSIONS
There still remain various problems, such as lack of a further increase in the screening rate, the fixation of examinees and an increase in the incidence of cervical cancer in young females.
Sato
S
S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Matsunaga
G
G
Konno
R
R
Yajima
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*