OBJECTIVE:

To identify patterns of variation in cervical cancer screening programmes in Europe to support planning public health human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination strategies in cervical cancer prevention.

METHODS:

A three-phase approach was designed to evalu¬ate pro¬grammes in different countries and to identify drivers and barriers to vac¬cine introduction. Countries were clustered according to their structure, pro¬cess, and outcomes of current secondary prevention programmes for cervical cancer. Main outcome measures: Detailed description of cervical cancer secondary prevention programmes (or¬gani¬sation, target population, screening algorithms, financing) was compared. Outcome based criteria were incidence rate, mortality rate, and coverage rate of women (proportion of women actually screened).

RESULTS:

A wide range of variation was found in structure, process and outcomes for cervical cancer screening programmes in Europe, but countries could be clustered on the basis of screening practice and outcomes. There was a relation between the quality of cervical cancer prevention programmes and the continuing cervical cancer burden.

CONCLUSION:

There are several different patterns of current cervical cancer secondary prevention in Europe. Implementation of vaccination against the major oncogenic HPV types 16/18 provides a potentially important tool to supplement these cervical screening and achieve optimal cervical cancer prevention. The challenges are different in each country cluster.

Keywords: servikal kanser, tarama programi, Avrupa, asilama