Similar effectiveness with primary HPV and cytology screening - Long-term follow-up of randomized cervical cancer screening trial.

BACKGROUND: Long-term effects of primary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening on cervical cancer incidence and mortality are still missing. We conducted a long-term follow-up of the Finnish randomized HPV screening trial, the first HPV screening trial run within the routine screening program, to assess these measures. METHODS: During 2003-2008, over 236,000 individuals were randomized (1:1) to HPV and cytology screening arms in Southern Finland. To compare the study arms, we calculated the cervical cancer incidence and mortality rate ratios using Poisson regression. RESULTS: During a total of 3.5 million person-years of follow-up, we observed 129 cervical cancers and 32 cervical cancer deaths in the cytology arm, 139 cervical cancers and 32 cervical cancer deaths in the HPV arm. Compared to the cytology arm, in the HPV arm, the incidence rate ratio was 1.08 (95% CI 0.85-1.37), and the mortality rate ratio was 1.01 (95% CI 0.61-1.64). CONCLUSIONS: We studied the effects of HPV screening on both cervical cancer incidence and mortality for the first time in a setting with an already well-established, high-quality cytology screening program. In this kind of setting with a low incidence of cervical cancer, HPV and cytology screening showed similar effectiveness. HPV screening provides, however, an objective, validated test system and enables self-sampling which can improve screening coverage. More attention is needed yet to ensure the balance between the harms and benefits of HPV screening.

Differences in mammography screening attendance among non-Western immigrants in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

Several studies have shown that attendance rates are lower among non-Western immigrants than among natives. As the Nordic countries have quite similar health systems and populations but also differences in the organisation of their organised mammography screening programmes, differences in attendance rates could highlight organisational factors that might increase the attendance rates. Mammography screening is offered free of charge in Denmark and Finland, but not in Iceland and Norway. Contrarily to the other countries, Iceland do not send out pre-booked appointment. The study population included natives and non-Western immigrants aged 50-69 years, who had at least one invitation to the national mammography screening programmes in Denmark (2008-2017), Finland (2001-2017), Iceland (2001-2020) or Norway (2001-2015). Relative risks (RRs) of attendance were estimated and adjusted for age group and calendar period. The study population included 116.033 non-Western immigrants and more than 2 million natives. The attendance rates were significantly lower among non-Western immigrants than among natives, with an adjusted relative risk of 0.81/0.80 in Denmark and Finland, 0.62 in Norway, and 0.40 in Iceland. The lower attendance rates among immigrants in Norway and Iceland did not seem to be due to differences in birth country, immigration age, or educational level, but might be explained by organisational factors. Offering free-of-charge mammography screening in Norway and Iceland and/or including a pre-booked appointment in the invitation letters in Iceland might increase the attendance rate among non-Western immigrants.

Effect of Test History at Ages 50-64 on Later Cervical Cancer Risk: A Population-based Case-control Study.

As life expectancy increases, the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening programs needs to be reassessed for the older population. We addressed the effect of test history in and outside organized screening at age 50-64 years on later cervical cancer risk. A case-control study was conducted by deriving 229 cases of 65-79 years old women with invasive cervical cancer in 2010-2019 from the Finnish Cancer Registry. Ten controls were matched for each case by birth year and hospital district. The effect of test uptake and abnormal results in 50-64 year olds on cancer risk was investigated using conditional logistic regression and adjusted for self-selection. Test uptake within the 50-64 years age group showed 75% lower odds of cervical cancer [adjusted OR (aOR) = 0.25; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.18-0.35]. Untested women had 4.9 times higher odds than those tested with normal results (aOR = 4.86; 95% CI, 3.42-6.92). Having at least one abnormal test result increased the odds by 2.5 when compared with only normal results but showed lower odds when compared with untested women. The importance of testing is exhibited by the result showing a reduction of odds of cancer to one-fourth for those tested compared with untested. Similarly, receiving abnormal results was protective of cancer compared with having no tests highlighting the importance of proper follow-up. Therefore, screening history should be considered when further developing cervical cancer screening programs with special interest in non-attenders and those receiving abnormal results at older ages. Significance: To our knowledge, this is the first study from Finnish data describing the effect of test history on later cervical cancer at older ages. Focusing on the cervical tests taken within the Finnish national screening program and outside it highlights the overall importance of having cervical tests and adds this study into the slowly increasing number of studies considering all cervical testing in Finland.

Cervical, liver and stomach cancer incidence and mortality in non-Western immigrant women: a retrospective cohort study from four Nordic countries.

BACKGROUND: Cervical, liver and stomach cancers are the most common infection-associated malignancies and the leading cause of morbidity in non-Western regions. We compared the incidence and mortality of these cancers between non-Western immigrant and non-immigrant Nordic female populations. We also analysed the effect of age at immigration, duration of residence and education on cancer burden. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Study population consisted of women residents in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway in 1973-2020. Non-Western women contributed 3.1% of the total 260 million person-years at risk. All women were followed from their 20th birthday, or from the date of immigration if after, until the date of their first primary cancer diagnosis, death, emigration, or the end of the country-specific study period. All data were adjusted for 10-year age groups and calendar periods, and immigrant data was further broken down by region of birth, age at immigration and education level. Country-specific estimates were produced by multivariable Poisson regression and pooled in Finland with a random effects model. RESULTS: Altogether, there were 60 982 cases of cervical, liver and stomach cancer in the study population, causing 36 582 deaths. The immigrant women had significantly higher liver (rate ratio [RR] 1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-3.06) and stomach cancer incidence (RR 1.68, CI 1.29-2.18), and stomach cancer mortality (RR 1.49, CI 1.17-1.92) than non-immigrant women. In the immigrant population, high education was related to lower incidence and mortality of studied cancers. The rate ratio of cervical cancer decreased with duration of residence and increased with rising age at immigration. CONCLUSION: Due to the increased incidence and mortality of infection-related cancers and changes in cancer patterns by age at immigration and duration of residence, attention should be paid to targeted health care services for immigrants. Special efforts should be given to women who have spent their youth in high-risk areas.

A population-based cohort study on changes in breast, lung and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality among non-Western immigrant women.

BACKGROUND: Cancer risk varies geographically, and migrants are influenced by different risk factors before, during and after migration. Increased migration from non-Western countries to the Nordic countries calls for a better understanding of the migrants' cancer risk and the change in risk patterns over time. The aim of this study was to compare the incidence and mortality of breast, colorectal and lung cancer between non-Western immigrant and the native female population in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from national registries were processed and pre-analysed in each country. Multivariate Poisson regression models were used to model the relative differences in incidence and mortality as rate ratios (RR). The country-specific estimates and summary statistics were pooled together using a random effects model. RESULTS: Non-Western immigrant women had significantly lower breast (RR 0.71, 0.65-0.78), colorectal (RR 0.72, 0.57-0.92) and lung (RR 0.55, 0.42-0.72) cancer incidence rates than native women, and the risk of these cancers among immigrant women increased with duration of residence. Differences were parallel in breast, colorectal and lung cancer mortality (RR 0.64, 0.55-0.74; RR 0.66, 0.48-0.92; RR 0.51, 0.34-0.79). Among immigrant women, higher education increased the risk for breast cancer and decreased it for lung cancer. CONCLUSION: The results significantly complement and add to the previous findings of cancer burden and cancer burden transition among migrants and provide evidence of a prolonged cancer risk advantage among non-Western immigrant women. However, the findings show an increasing risk of lifestyle-related cancers with increasing duration of residence in the host country. Further studies are needed to discover underlying reasons for this phenomenon.

Flexible transition probability model for assessing cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening extension to include women aged 45-49 and 70-74.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Western women. Fortunately, organized screening has reduced breast cancer mortality. New recommendation by the European Union suggests extending screening with mammography from 50-69-year-old women to 45-74-year-old women. However, before extending screening to new age groups, it's essential to carefully consider the benefits and costs locally as circumstances vary between different regions and/or countries. We propose a new approach to assess cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening for a long-ongoing program with incomplete historical screening data. The new model is called flexible stage distribution model. It is based on estimating the breast cancer incidence and stage distributions of breast cancer cases under different screening strategies. The model parameters, for each considered age group, include incidence rates under screening/non-screening, probability distribution among different stages, survival by stages, and treatment costs. Out of these parameters, we use the available data to estimate survival rates and treatment costs, while the modelling is done for incidence rates and stage distributions under screening policies for which the data is not available. In the model, an ongoing screening strategy may be used as a baseline and other screening strategies may be incorporated by changes in the incidence rates. The model is flexible, as it enables to apply different approaches for estimating the altered stage distributions. We apply the proposed flexible stage distribution model for assessing incremental cost of extending the current biennial breast cancer screening to younger and older target ages in Finland.

Effectiveness of Cervical Testing in and outside a Screening Program-A Case-Control Study.

In many countries with organized cervical cancer screening, opportunistic Pap and human papillomavirus (HPV) tests are common. However, little is known about their effectiveness. We examined the effect of testing in and outside the Finnish screening program on the risk of cervical cancer. We conducted a case-control study that involved 1677 cases with invasive cervical cancer that were diagnosed between 2010 and 2019. Five- and three-year test intervals were analyzed across all ages, by age group and by cancer morphology subtype. Conditional logistic regression was used, adjusting for socioeconomic variables. Women undergoing any kind of cervical test had a significantly lowered risk of cervical cancer (adjusted OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.38-0.48, tests in five-year intervals). The results were similar, regardless of whether the test had been taken in the screening program or outside of it, or whether the interval was five years or three years. Testing of women at ages 35-64 showed the strongest effects, but moderate preventive effects were seen until age 79. No significant effect was seen below age 30. Tests in and outside the program were effective at the screening target age. However, participation in the program should be encouraged for optimal cost-effectiveness. Preventive effects were also seen above the program target ages.

What can We Learn From High-Performing Screening Programs to Increase Bowel Cancer Screening Participation in Australia?

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most diagnosed cancer in men and women and second most common cause of cancer death in Australia; Australia's CRC incidence and mortality are among the world's highest. The Australian National Bowel Cancer Screening Program began in 2006; however, only 33% of those approached for the first time by the Program between 2018 and 2019 returned the kit. Of the 5.7 million kits sent during this period, only 44% were returned. Our aim was to identify practices and features of national bowel cancer screening programs in countries with similar programs but higher screening participation, to identify potential interventions for optimising Australian CRC screening participation. METHODS: We searched published and grey literature for CRC screening programs reporting at least 50% screening participation using postal invitation and free return of iFOBT home kits. Interviews were conducted with cancer registry staff and academic researchers, focused on participant and practitioner engagement in screening. RESULTS: National programs in Netherlands, Scotland, Denmark, and Finland reported over 50% screening participation rates for all invitation rounds. Shared characteristics include small populations within small geographic areas relative to Australia; relatively high literacy; a one-sample iFOBT kit; national registration systems for population cancer screening research; and screening program research including randomised trials of program features. CONCLUSIONS: Apart from the one-sample kit, we identified no single solution to persistent Australian low uptake of screening. Research including randomised trials within the program promises to increase participation. IMPACT: This screening program comparison suggests that within-program intervention trials will lead to increased Australian screening participation.

Alternative cytology triage strategies for primary HPV screening.

OBJECTIVE: Primary HPV screening programmes for cervical cancer have been implemented in many European countries using a cytology triage. Nonetheless, the optimal cytology triage strategy for minimizing the harms and maximizing the benefits is yet unclear. We identified key characteristics of different algorithms for HPV screening with cytology triage. METHODS: Using the Finnish randomized HPV screening trial data, we formulated five post-hoc algorithms for HPV screening with a cytology triage, one for HPV screening without a triage and one for cytology screening. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, colposcopy referral rate and cumulative sensitivity for CIN II + s detected during the first and second screening rounds of the trial were calculated for all algorithms. RESULTS: In the first screening round, direct referral of HPV positives to colposcopy led to the highest sensitivity (94%) accompanied by the lowest specificity (93%). Following HPV positives up with one repeat screen showed 86% sensitivity and 97% specificity. The corresponding figures with two repeat screens were 84% and 98%. In HPV algorithms, where cytology negative HPV positive individuals had no follow-up, the sensitivities were 65-82% and the specificities 98-99%. The Cytology algorithm had a low sensitivity (69%) with a high specificity (99%). Compared to the first round, the second-round sensitivities were lower and specificities similar or higher. CONCLUSIONS: The best balance between sensitivity and specificity was achieved by an HPV algorithm with two repeated follow-up tests. However, all HPV algorithms with cytology triage increased colposcopy volume more than the cytology algorithm and thus provoked overdiagnosis.

Health inequalities among Russian-born immigrant women in Finland: Longitudinal analysis on cervical cancer incidence and participation in screening.

Research has documented both lower and higher cancer incidence among migrants. Evidence among the large Russian-born migrant population, however, is scarce. We examined cervical cancer incidence and screening participation among Russian-born immigrant women in Finland, a country with complete cancer registration and universal public health care including organized cancer screening. Our study population included all the women that resided in Finland during 1970-2017 and was formed linking individual-level data from four nationwide registries. The linked data sets on cancer and cancer screening were analysed separately using different statistical models. Russian-born immigrant women had increased (+62%) incidence of cervical cancer compared to the general Finnish female population, and they participated in cervical cancer screening slightly less than other women. Our findings showed no consistent transition pattern in cancer incidence or screening participation rate with duration of stay. Potential explanations for the observed differences include institutional and behavioural factors. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, and cancer screening can both prevent and reduce incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. Efforts should be made to encourage migrant populations to participate in cervical screening.

Optimizing screening with faecal immunochemical test for both sexes - Cost-effectiveness analysis from Finland.

A faecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening pilot was introduced in Finland in 2019 with sex-specific screening strategies. This study aims to model cost-effectiveness of sex-specific strategies for the whole population, and to assess whether the current strategies are optimal. We developed separate MISCAN-Colon models, including different FIT performances, for the Finnish men and women using the first-year data of the FIT screening pilot. We evaluated 180 FIT strategies varying in FIT cut-off, screening interval, age to start, and age to stop screening, and compared them to no-screening by sex. We used incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) to identify the optimal strategy after combining all male and female strategies and restricting the analysis by costs and referral rate to diagnostic colonoscopies. Offering annual FIT screening with a cut-off of 25 µg/g at 50-79 years in men and with a cut-off of 10 µg/g at 55-69 years in women was optimal. This combined strategy prevented 28% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases and 55% of CRC deaths with acceptable costs (ICER = 9000€/life-years gained). Screening at the current target age of 60-74 years was suboptimal for both sexes. Among strategies with the same target age and interval for both sexes, expected benefits from optimal screening were lower but still reasonable. Our results support a wider age range of screening in men, and a lower cut-off for a positive test in women when restrictions on colonoscopy capacity and costs are in place. National FIT screening program should start at younger age.

Sociodemographic features and patterns of non-participation in colorectal cancer screening in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening was run as a randomized health services programme in Finland between 2004 and 2016. This study evaluates sociodemographic features and patterns of non-participation among men and women invited to be screened. METHODS: The study population in this register-based study includes 233 211 men and women invited to guaiac faecal occult blood test screening on consecutive screening rounds (n = 708 621 invitations). A generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR) between sociodemographic features and non-participation. RESULTS: The overall proportion of non-participation was 31.6% and was higher in men (38.8%) than in women (24.6%). Birth cohort, education, marital status and country of birth were associated with non-participation. The birth cohort of 1950-54 was less likely to participate than the birth cohort of 1940-44. Men and women with primary education were more likely non-participants (IRR 1.26, CI 1.23-1.29 and IRR 1.22, CI 1.18-1.26, respectively) than men or women with tertiary education. Further, unmarried persons and immigrants had an increased risk of non-participation. Initial non-participation predicted subsequent behaviour, since, e.g. ∼80% of first-round non-participants also remained non-participants in the second round. CONCLUSION: Education, gender and marital status had a significant effect on non-participation in the CRC screening programme. As high and comprehensive participation is essential for a successful screening programme, attention should be paid in ensuring participation of all sociodemographic groups. Special efforts should be invested in those not participating in the first invitational round, since initial non-participation predicts non-participation to subsequent invitations.

Cervical testing beyond the screening target age - A register-based cohort study from Finland.

OBJECTIVE: It has been proposed that cervical cancer screening should be continued in women with previous abnormal results or irregular attendance. We examined the coverage and factors that might influence cervical testing beyond the age range of the organized cervical screening programme in Finland. The national programme invites women in every five years least until the age of 60. After the stopping age, only opportunistic service is available. METHODS: Data on cervical testing were collected from the Mass Screening Registry and providers of opportunistic Pap/HPV-testing and were linked with information on socio-economic variables. The study included 373,353 women who had at least one invitation to the national screening programme between ages 50-60 years, and who were aged 65-74 years in the follow-up period 2006-2016. Multivariable binomial regression models were conducted to determine associations. RESULTS: Altogether 33% of the study population had been tested at least once at ages 65-74 years. Previous regular screening attendance (adjRR 1.70; 95% CI 1.67-1.73) and earlier abnormal results (adjRR 2.08; 95% CI 2.04-2.12) were most clearly related to higher testing adherence at older age. Other factors related to higher testing adherence were urban area of residence, domestic mother tongue, high education level, and high socio-economic status. CONCLUSION: Testing at older age was frequent with normal results, whereas only a small proportion of women with earlier abnormal results or irregular attendance were tested. The upper age limit of the national programme should be raised to 65 years, and the invitations thereafter should be targeted to selected high-risk groups.

Comparison of cytology and human papillomavirus-based primary testing in cervical screening programs in the Nordic countries.

OBJECTIVE: To compare primary test positivity in cytology and human papillomavirus-based screening between different Nordic cervical cancer screening programs using harmonized register data. METHODS: This study utilized individual-level data available in national databases in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Cervical test data from each country were converted to standard format and aggregated by calculating the number of test episodes for every test result for each calendar year and one-year age group and test method. Test positivity was estimated as the proportion of positive test results of all primary test episodes with a valid test result for "any positive" and "clearly positive" results. RESULTS: The age-adjusted rate ratio for any positive test results in primary human papillomavirus-based screening compared to cytology was 1.66 (95% CI 1.64-1.68). The age-adjusted rate ratio for clearly positive test results was 1.02 (95% CI 1.00-1.05). A decreasing rate ratio by age was seen in both any positive and clearly positive test results. Test positivity increased over time in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden but slightly decreased in Finland. CONCLUSIONS: The probability of any positive test result was higher in human papillomavirus testing than in primary cytology, even though the cross-sectional detection of a clearly positive test result was the same. Human papillomavirus testing can still lead to an improved longitudinal sensitivity through a larger number of follow-up tests and the opportunity to identify women with a persistent human papillomavirus infection. Further research on histologically verified precancerous lesions is needed in primary as well as repeat testing.

Piloting gender-oriented colorectal cancer screening with a faecal immunochemical test: population-based registry study from Finland.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility and evaluate the performance of a relaunched colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programme with different cut-offs for men and women. DESIGN: Population-based registry study. SETTING: Nine municipalities in Finland which started CRC screening with faecal immunochemical test (FIT) in April 2019 with cut-off levels 70 µg Hg/g faeces for men and 25 µg Hg/g faeces for women. PARTICIPANTS: Men (n=13 059) and women (n=14 669) aged 60-66 years invited to screening during the first programme year. OUTCOME MEASURES: Participation rates, positivity rates, detection rates of CRC and advanced adenoma (AA), and positive predictive values (PPV) of FIT for CRC and AA. RESULTS: Altogether 21 993 invitees returned stool samples. The participation rate of women (83.4%; 95% CI 82.8 to 84.0) was significantly higher than that of men (74.7%; 95% CI 73.9 to 75.4). The positivity rates were 2.4% (2.2 to 2.7) and 2.8% (2.5 to 3.1), respectively. In total, 37 CRCs and 116 AAs were detected. The detection rates of CRC and AA per 1000 participants were 1.8 (1.1 to 2.9) and 7.2 (5.6 to 9.1) for men and 1.6 (0.9 to 2.4) and 3.8 (2.8 to 5.0) for women. The PPVs per 100 positive tests were 6.6 (4.0 to 10.3) and 25.7 (20.6 to 31.4) for men and 6.4 (3.9 to 9.8) and 15.5 (11.6 to 20.2) for women. CONCLUSIONS: The chosen FIT strategy narrowed the gap in the diagnostic performance between men and women especially in the detection of CRC. The participation rates were excellent. The levels of positivity and detection rates were moderate and need further action. The results indicate that gender-specific protocols can be introduced to organised CRC screening. It is yet to be seen whether they are more effective than a uniform screening protocol.

Differences in cervical test coverage by age, socioeconomic status, ethnic origin and municipality type - A nationwide register-based study.

An invitational organized cervical cancer screening together with widely spread opportunistic testing has coexisted for decades in Finland. The aim of this study was to examine the coverage of cervical tests by age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and municipality type within and outside the organized screening program. We had a cohort of women of whom 1,2 million were in the target age range of screening and residing in Finland in 2010-2014. Data on Pap and/or HPV -tests within and outside the screening program were collected from the Mass Screening Registry, the pathology laboratories and the health insurance reimbursement registry and five-year population coverages of tests were reported. The total test coverage was 86.0%; 95% CI, (85.8-86.1), and was notably lower for those with an unknown socioeconomic status and pensioners (68.8%; 95% CI, (67.9-69.6) and 77.1%; 95% CI, (76.5-77.6), respectively) compared to upper-level employers (89.8%; 95% CI, (89.5-90.2)). Coverage was also lower for non-native speaking women (72.4%; 95% CI, (71.8-73.0)) compared to native speakers (86.9%; 95% CI, (86.7-87.0)) and for women living in urban municipalities (85.5%; 95% CI, (85.3-85.7)) compared to semi-urban (87.4%; 95% CI, (87.0-87.8)). Although overall coverage was high, tests within and outside the program seemed to concentrate on women with presumably good access to health services. Tests outside the program were especially common among young women who are at a low risk of invasive cervical cancer. Efforts should be made to reduce excessive opportunistic testing and to increase attendance at the program among hard-to-reach populations.

NordScreen - an interactive tool for presenting cervical cancer screening indicators in the Nordic countries.

Introduction: Quality assurance and improvement of cancer screening programs require up-to-date monitoring systems and evidence-based indicators. National quality reports exist but the definition and calculation of indicators vary making comparisons between countries difficult. The aim is to stimulate collaborative research and quality improvements in screening through freely available, comparable and regularly updated quality indicators. The project currently includes data on cervical cancer screening but population-based screening programs for breast cancer and colorectal cancer may be included in the future. Material and methods: Through a network of Nordic and Baltic screening managers, population-based individual screening data from each country were converted to standard format in each collaborative center, aggregated by the same R program script and then uploaded to the NordScreen online platform. Registry data included all cervical tests except for Finland where only tests based on invitation are included. Results: The NordScreen collaboration has so far collated standardized indicators based on 32.8 million screening tests from four Nordic countries and Estonia. Interactive comparison of test coverage and distribution of women by number of tests are currently possible online. In 2016, the test coverage within a time interval of 5.5 years in the age group 30-64 year-olds was between 78 and 84% in Iceland, Norway and Sweden whereas 70% in Finland. The application allows users to choose indicator specifications interactively. Conclusions: NordScreen is a pilot model for comparable, reliable and accessible cross-country comparisons of cancer screening. Comparability between countries is enhanced by a uniform data structure and standardized calculations. The comparison of coverage rates to national figures shows that the methods used nationally and in the NordScreen project produce similar results.

Effectiveness of cervical cancer screening at age 65 - A register-based cohort study.

Most cervical cancer deaths in Finland occur after the termination of the national screening program, targeted at women aged 30 to 64 years. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of screening at age 65 in reducing cervical cancer mortality. A register-based cohort study was performed with a follow-up period between 1991 and 2014. Mortality risk ratios for incident cervical cancer cases diagnosed at age 65 or older were compared between women invited and not invited for screening. The background risk difference between the studied areas was accounted for by using a reference cohort. The relative risk of death for women invited for cervical cancer screening at the age of 65 was 0.52 (95% CI: 0.29-0.94). The relative risks for women not attending and attending to screening with respect to the uninvited were 1.28 (CI: 0.65-2.50) and 0.28 (CI: 0.13-0.59), respectively. Inviting 65-year-old women for screening has been effective in reducing cervical cancer mortality.

The effect of colorectal cancer screening on health status in a survey study.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening has been found to reduce mortality from CRC but it may have adverse effects on other aspects of health. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of CRC screening on overall health status among men and women within a randomized health-services study in Finland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A random sample of 10,648 men and women born in 1951 received a questionnaire on health and lifestyle. They were randomized for CRC screening or controls (1:1) in 2011 (N = 10,271). The current study population consisted of those who responded to the questionnaire both before and after screening (n = 4895). Self-rated health (SRH), perceived healthiness of diet and perceived physical fitness were used to determine health status, and assessed with logistic and ordered logistic models using calendar time (2010, 2012), screening randomization and demographic characteristics as covariates. RESULTS: SRH, healthiness of diet and physical fitness improved over time (OR 1.32, CI 1.17-1.48, OR 1.23, CI 1.08-1.41 and OR 1.44, CI 1.28-1.60, respectively). Compared to non-invited controls, CRC screening invitation had no effect on these measures (OR 0.91, CI 0.74-1.12, OR 0.95, CI 0.75-1.20, and OR 1.09, CI 0.87-1.37, respectively). Women reported better health status than men. However, among those who attended screening, women reported weaker, and men better health status than the respective controls. CONCLUSIONS: CRC screening did not have any effect on health status measured using self-rated health, healthiness of diet, and physical fitness. Thus, screening for colorectal cancer can be recommended as a health policy.

Results of a health systems approach to identify barriers to population-based cervical and colorectal cancer screening programmes in six European countries.

The aim of this study was to identify barriers to effective cervical and colorectal cancers screening programmes in Europe. The Barriers to Effective Screening Tool (BEST), based on a health systems approach, was completed by teams of three to six experts on cancer screening in each of the six countries involved in leading the EU-TOPIA project (TOwards imProved screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer In All of Europe). While the basic components of screening systems and the challenges they face, such as low participation, are similar, there are also many differences, both in the structures underpinning particular functions, such as maintenance of populationregisters and monitoring outcomes, and the ways that they operate. Many of these lie outside the strict organisational boundaries of screening programmes. BEST offers a means to identify and prioritise issues for further detailed exploration. The holistic health systems approach to assessing barriers differs from previous approaches. Those focus on individual characteristics that determine participation. The approach described here provides additional opportunities to improve outcomes with measures that are largely within the control of those managing the health system.