title: [The cost of screening for breast and cervical cancer in France].
abstract: This article presents existing data on the cost of breast cancer and cervical screening programmes in France. The average direct cost of breast cancer screening was estimated at 57.77-60.51 Euro per woman attending for screening. Organisational costs account for 15-24% of total costs and the efficiency of existing screening programmes has improved over time. There is little available data on the cost of cervical cancer screening in France. The decentralised model of screening followed for both cervical and breast cancer programmes in France is more costly than the centralised model adopted by most other European countries. The best way to improve the economic value of screening programmes is to increase attendance rates. Attendance is currently inadequate for both screening programmes in France. For cervical screening, it is more cost-effective to increase screening attendance than to increase the frequency of screening. As long as screening attendance remains low, the impact of existing screening programmes will be suboptimal. Thus any new allocation of resources towards cervical and breast cancer screening in France should be assessed with caution.
authors.affiliation: University of Cambridge, Judge Institute of Management Studies, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, Royaume-Uni. s.wait@jims.cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watt
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data