[Cervical cancer screening campaign in Doubs: evaluation of the first three years of the pilot program]

A pilot cervical screening program was established in 1993 in a french administrative area, the "département du Doubs". We report a program set-up, screening activities and the main results obtained within three years. The responsibility for its organization was assigned to a multidisciplinary health professional committee and screening policy was determined according to the recommendations of the consensus conference held in Lille. A record of all smears taken from women in the Doubs county was established by centralizing data from all regional cytopathology laboratories. Within three years, 57% of all women in the 20 to 65 years age group had at least one smear. Prevalence rates of pathological and unsatisfactory smears slightly increased during this period. Among women with smear showing high grade intraepithelial lesion, 94% had a histological test which confirmed the lesion for 81% of the women concerned. Fifty-eight per cent of the women had a second smear within 3 years but only 49% of the women had a new smear after a first unsatisfactory smear. Measures to be implemented in order to improve these results are discussed.