Screening of cervical cancer in Catalonia 2006-2012

The early detection of intraepithelial lesions of the cervix, through the periodic examination of cervical cells, has been fundamental for the prevention of invasive cervical cancer and its related mortality. In this report, we summarise the cervical cancer screening activities carried out in Catalonia, Spain, within the National Health System during 2008-2011. The study population covers over two million women resident in the area. The evaluation includes 758,690 cervical cytologies performed on a total of 595,868 women. The three-year coverage of cervical cytology among women aged between 25 and 65 years was 40.8%. About 50% of first screened women with negative results had not returned to the second screening round. The introduction of high-risk human papillomavirus DNA (HPV) detection, as a primary screening cotest with cytology among women over age 40 with a poor screening history, significantly improved the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+), being far superior to cytology alone. Cotesting did not improve the detection of CIN2+. The use of the HPV test for the triage of atypical squamous cell undetermined significance (ASC-US) improved the selection of women at high risk of CIN2