How much cervical cancer  is being prevented?

Mitchell, Heather S

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05201.x

Topics

To the Editor: It was estimated in 1989 that cervical screening in Australia was preventing only 46% of squamous malignancies, against a theoretical capacity of 90%.1 This suboptimal achievement after almost 25 years of cervical screening led to a major reorganisation of the program.

Correspondence:

1. Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council. Cervical Cancer Screening Evaluation Committee. Cervical cancer screening in Australia: Options for change. Australian Institute of Health: Prevention Program Evaluation Series No 2. Canberra: AGPS, 1991.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998. Estimated resident population by age and sex: Australian States and Territories, June 1997 to June 1998. Canberra: ABS, 1998. (Catalogue No. 3201.0.)
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001. National Health Survey. Canberra: ABS, 2001. (Catalogue No. 4364.0.)
4. Day NE. The epidemiological basis for evaluating different screening policies. In: Hakama M, Miller AB, Day NE. Screening for cancer of the uterine cervix. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1996: 199-209.
5. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Cervical screening in Australia 1997-1998. Canberra: AIHW, 2000.

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