Current techniques in screening for cervical cancer in Spain: updated recommendations

Abstract

A population-based survey (AFRODITA Study) was conducted in Spain in order to estimate the coverage and factors associated with cervical cancer cytological screening. The results of this survey indicate that the rate of screening for cervical cancer in Spain is 75.6% in women between 18 and 65 years. This high rate of opportunistic cervical cancer screening possibly has increased in the last 5 years. However, screening participation still needs to be improved in older women, women living in rural areas, women at a low socioeconomic level, and women living in certain autonomous regions. Conversely, an overuse of cytology has been observed in Spain, as a result of opportunistic screening. A survey in 2005, carried out in 14 public and private Spanish cytological laboratories, showed that among 409,443 women, the mean rate of abnormal cytology (a diagnosis of at least atypical cells of undetermined significance on a Pap smear) was 3.5% with a range of 0.5%-7.0% in Spain. We believe that this low rate of abnormal Pap smears is the result of repeated annual opportunistic screening in a low-risk population of women. A new Spanish consensus protocol for screening for cervical carcinoma was developed in 2006 by the Spanish Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, the Spanish Association of Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy, the Spanish Society of Cytology, and the Spanish Society of Anatomic Pathology. In order to rationalize the use of cervical cancer screening in Spain, the recommendations of the new Spanish consensus screening protocol must be followed.