CERVICAL-CANCER SCREENING IN AN URBAN-POPULATION IN TAIWAN - 5-YEAR RESULTS

Objective. To review the first five years of the educational and cervi cal cancer screening program (ECCSP) at twelve public health centers i n the metropolitan area of Taipei and to measure whether the ECCSP had an impact on cancer patterns. Methods. We used data for cervical canc ers diagnosed between 1986 and 1991 from all hospitals in Taipei and f rom the national cancer registry. During this time period, 2 158 cervi cal cancers were diagnosed from thirty-nine hospitals in Taipei city, of which 5% were identified after referral from the ECCSP. Results. Th e 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 d emonstrated this similar difference. The case-fatality rate of cervica l 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%) dur ing this study period (P < 0.01). Conclusions. This information sugges ts that the ECCSP has had a remarkable impact on the early diagnosis o f cervical cancer. It is expected that a well organized screening prog ram will be applied to a large target population from young to old adu lts so that the program can be effective for reducing the mortality ra te of cervical cancer in Taiwan.