Update on Cervical Screening in Victoria 2001

Update on Cervical Screening in Victoria

This short bulletin provides basic monitoring statistics of interest to people working in the National Cervical Screening Program in Victoria. The data is presented early to maximise its usefulness; late registrations and further cleaning of the data may result in some changes to the numbers.

The Annual Statistical Report for 2008 is also available at http://www.vccr.org/stats.html

1. Average Number of Pap Tests per Working Day
The average number of Pap tests registered per working day by age group was as follows:

		Total	Age Group (yrs)
			<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70+
2006	1st qtr	2331	59	481	596	534	410	217	34
	2nd qtr	2316	54	455	589	544	410	229	35
	3rd qtr	2246	51	446	579	537	394	208	31
	4th qtr	2309	49	451	591	540	404	235	39
2007	1st qtr	2370	58	489	608	553	405	223	34
	2nd qtr	2367	54	469	596	559	416	237	36
	3rd qtr	2251	55	473	560	525	391	215	32
	4th qtr*	2371	51	468	597	550	416	251	38
2008	1st qtr	2375	56	499	604	535	411	237	33
	2nd qtr	2339	49	453	587	551	414	250	35
	3rd qtr	2148	44	418	535	504	389	226	32
	4th qtr	2038	41	396	504	471	364	230	32
2009	1st qtr	2374	49	482	602	549	411	248	33
	2nd qtr**	2482	51	504	629	568	430	264	36
	3rd qtr**	2299	46	444	572	542	418	245	32
	4th qtr	2159	39	418	523	503	394	249	33
2010	1st qtr	2328	47	475	566	532	421	254	33

* In October of 2007 PapScreen Victoria ran a media campaign encouraging women to have regular Pap tests.

** In the second and third quarters of 2009 PapScreen Victoria ran a staggered media campaign.

The last three quarters of 2009 show an increase in the average number of Pap tests per working day compared with the previous year. During June 2009 and for some of July and August PapScreen Victoria again ran a media campaign encouraging women to have regular Pap tests which may have contributed to the increase in Pap tests during this time.

The first quarter of 2010 shows that the average number of Pap tests is higher than during the second half of 2009, and approximately the same as the first quarters of previous years.

2. Percentage of Pap Tests Reported as Unsatisfactory

The percentage of Pap tests reported as technically unsatisfactory was as follows:

Year	Quarter	% Unsatisfactory
2006	1st qtr	1.9%
	2nd qtr	2.0%
	3rd qtr	2.3%
	4th qtr	2.0%
2007	1st qtr	2.0%
	2nd qtr	2.0%
	3rd qtr	2.1%
	4th qtr	2.0%
2008	1st qtr	2.1%
	2nd qtr	1.9%
	3rd qtr	1.8%
	4th qtr	1.8%
2009	1st qtr	1.9%
	2nd qtr	2.1%
	3rd qtr	2.4%
	4th qtr	2.6%
2010	1st qtr	2.3%

The Commonwealth Performance Standards require laboratories to report between 0.5% and 5% of Pap tests as technically unsatisfactory. The table above shows that the proportion of unsatisfactory Pap tests has gradually increased over the last three to four years.

3. Percentage of Pap Tests with an Endocervical Component

The percentage of technically satisfactory Pap tests, from women with a cervix, reported as including an endocervical component was as follows:

Year	Quarter	% with an Endocervical Component
2006	1st qtr	76.9%
	2nd qtr	76.8%
	3rd qtr	77.5%
	4th qtr	77.5%
2007	1st qtr	76.7%
	2nd qtr	76.9%
	3rd qtr	76.7%
	4th qtr	76.1%
2008	1st qtr	75.8%
	2nd qtr	76.0%
	3rd qtr	76.2%
	4th qtr	75.8%
2009	1st qtr	75.6%
	2nd qtr	75.8%
	3rd qtr	76.2%
	4th qtr	75.8%
2010	1st qtr	75.1%

This table shows modest fluctuations in the proportion of Pap tests with an endocervical component over the last few years.

The decline in the proportion of Pap tests with endocervical component over time is statistically significant when comparing data for the calendar years of 2004 and 2009. Over this five year period the proportion of Pap tests with endocervical component declined in 2004 from 79.9% (95%CI 79.8%-80.0%) to 75.8% (95%CI 75.7%-75.9%) in 2009 (p<0.0001). However, the decline appears to have stabilized since the last quarter of 2008.

No national standards have been set in relation to the proportion of Pap tests that should include an endocervical component.

4. Time Since Last Pap Test

For Pap tests registered in each quarter, the time since any previous Pap test was as follows:

		Time Interval Since Previous Testing
		< 12 mths	12-<18 mths	18-<24 mths	24-<30 mths	30-<36 mths	36-<48 mths	>48 mths	No prev. test
2006	1st qtr	14.4%	12.3%	12.9%	29.9%	7.6%	5.3%	7.1%	10.5%
	2nd qtr	13.8%	12.5%	12.5%	31.8%	7.4%	5.1%	6.8%	10.2%
	3rd qtr	12.5%	13.0%	11.2%	33.8%	7.1%	5.2%	7.1%	10.2%
	4th qtr	12.6%	12.9%	10.4%	34.0%	7.6%	5.2%	7.0%	10.3%
2007	1st qtr	12.2%	12.1%	12.9%	30.4%	8.6%	5.4%	7.2%	11.2%
	2nd qtr	11.6%	11.9%	13.0%	32.0%	8.3%	5.3%	7.1%	10.8%
	3rd qtr	11.2%	11.9%	10.6%	34.8%	7.3%	5.5%	7.3%	11.4%
	4th qtr	10.9%	12.0%	10.4%	34.3%	7.6%	6.1%	7.5%	11.2%
2008	1st qtr	11.4%	11.8%	12.3%	30.9%	8.9%	5.7%	7.4%	11.6%
	2nd qtr	11.2%	11.8%	12.4%	32.6%	8.3%	5.7%	7.3%	10.7%
	3rd qtr	11.0%	11.8%	11.5%	34.6%	7.2%	5.7%	7.3%	10.9%
	4th qtr	11.1%	12.3%	10.8%	35.4%	7.4%	5.5%	7.0%	10.5%
2009	1st qtr	10.5%	11.5%	11.8%	34.2%	8.2%	5.5%	7.2%	11.2%
	2nd qtr	10.3%	10.9%	12.3%	33.3%	8.4%	5.8%	7.3%	11.7%
	3rd qtr	10.2%	10.6%	11.7%	35.1%	7.8%	5.7%	7.8%	11.1%
	4th qtr	11.0%	10.7%	10.5%	37.0%	7.8%	5.4%	7.2%	10.4%
2010	1st qtr	10.9%	10.4%	11.8%	35.1%	8.2%	5.5%	7.1%	11.0%

From 1 November 2001, increased remuneration has been available under the Cervical Practice Incentive Program to general practitioners who collect Pap tests from women who are four or more years since any previous testing.

New NHMRC Guidelines for the Management of asymptomatic women with screen detected abnormalities were introduced in July 2006.

The above table shows that the gradual decline in the number of women with early rescreening continues.