A Cancer Research UK study has found that cervical screening prevents 70% of cervical cancer deaths and if all eligible women regularly attended screening this would rise to 83%.
The new research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, is the first to establish the impact that screening has on deaths from cervical cancer by using screening information from women who have been diagnosed with the disease.
In England around 800 women die from cervical cancer each year. This new study suggests that without screening an additional 1,827 more women would die from the disease. But if all women aged between 25-64 were screened regularly an extra 347 lives could be saved – extensively reducing the number of deaths from the disease.
The researchers, based at Queen Mary University of London, studied the records of more than 11,000 women in England who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. The biggest impact of screening is among women aged between 50-64 where there would be five times more women dying from cervical cancer if there were no screening.
As well as helping to pick up the disease at an early stage, screening can also prevent cervical cancer from developing. The researchers estimated that there would be more than twice the number of cervical cancers diagnosed if there were no screening programme.
