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Cervical cancer in New Zealand: national and regional trends
1Hugh Adam Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin.
Aims:
To assess the impact of past cervical screening on national and regional trends in mortality and incidence of cancer of the cervix uteri.
Methods:
Age-specific mortality and incidence rates were calculated for the total female New Zealand population and the nonMaori populations of the regional health authorities. Analyses of the trends for different birth-cohorts and regions were conducted.
Results:
Cervical cancer mortality rates for women born about 1919 to 1929 at older ages were lower than expected from their mortality at younger ages. Birth-cohorts born about 1939 to 1944 and 1954 to 1959 experienced some reduction in cervical cancer mortality at younger ages which may not have been sustained at older ages. No obvious effect of screening was present for generations of women born about 1949. Regional differences in trends in cervical cancer were observed.
Conclusions:
A reduction in cervical cancer mortality from cervical screening has occurred at different ages for some generations of New Zealand women but has not always been sustained as women age. Also, there is some evidence that the effect of screening has varied between regions within New Zealand.