Browsing by Subject "Older age"

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-year-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-year age-group showed 75% lower odds of cervical cancer (adjusted odds ratio [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 to only normal results but showed lower odds when compared to 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 to untested. Similarly, receiving abnormal results was protective of cancer compared to 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.