Statistics of the Cervical Screening Programme (From 2004 to 2009)

The Cervical Screening Programme (CSP) of Department of Health was launched on 8 March 2004. Up to 31 December 2009, over 379 000 women have registered with CSP. The registered women's cervical smear records were stored in the Cervical Screening Information System (CSIS) for information of themselves and their health care providers. The following are some statistics compiled from the CSIS.

1. Number of women registered with CSP

Up to 31 December 2009, a total of 379 941 women have registered with the CSP (Figure 1). Of these, 78 700, 103 235, 72 939, 50 186 and 35 952 women registered in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. The registration figure in 2009 was 38 929*.

* Figure of 2009 is provisional.

The top 3 age groups of registrants were 45-49 years (17.6%), 35-39 years (16.7%) and 40-44 years (16.5%) (Figure 2). 96.9% of registrants were women aged 25-64. The top 3 districts in which the registrants were living as at 31 December 2009 were Shatin (9.9%), Yuen Long (9.2%) and Kwai Tsing (8.9%) (Figure 3).

* Age of registered women as at 31 December 2009.

* District according to the residential address as at 31 December 2009.

2. Number of cervical cytology tests done in registered women

Among the 379 941 women who have registered with CSP, there were 668 559 cervical cytology tests recorded in CSIS as at 31 December 2009. Of these, 88 534, 123 266, 115 828, 118 039 and 118 950 smears were done in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, while 103 942 smears were recorded for 2009 (Figure 4).

* Year of cervical tests is defined as the year of test report date. Figures may be different from the corresponding data in previous reports due to updates in CSIS data. # Figure of 2009 is provisional.

Registrants in the age group of 40-44 had the highest number of cervical cytology test records, that was 122 978 (18.4%), followed by the age groups of 35-39 and 45-49 with 117 682 (17.6%) and 110 019 (16.5%) smears done respectively (Figure 5).

* Age of registered women as at test report date.

The registered women living in Yuen Long, Shatin and Kwai Tsing contributed the most to the total number of cervical cytology tests in CSIS. The number of cervical cytology tests done in registrants who live in these three districts were 66 220 (9.9%), 64 908 (9.7%) and 62 950 (9.4%) respectively (Figure 6).

* District according to the residential address as at 31 December 2009.

3. General categorization of cervical smear results

For cervical cytology tests done among registered women from 2004 to 2009, the proportions of the results categorized according to the Bethesda System 2001 are shown in Figure 7. In the past six years, over 92% of smear results were 'Negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy', while around 7% were abnormal. The proportions of negative (92.0%) and abnormal smears (7.2%) in 2009 were similar to those of 2006 to 2008 but had changed slightly compared with the data of 2004 and 2005 (Figure 8).

* Year of cervical tests is defined as the year of test report date. Figures may be different from the corresponding data in previous reports due to updates in CSIS data.

4. Abnormal cervical smear results

Up to 31 December 2009, a total of 47 955 abnormal cervical cytology tests were recorded among the registrants in CSIS from 2004 to 2009. The commonest abnormalities were atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) (64.0%), followed by low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) (30.6%) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) (3.5%). Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were found in 8 and 48 smears respectively (Figure 9).

The percentage of abnormal cervical smears among the registered women by age is shown in Figure 10. The highest proportion of epithelial cell abnormality (8.7%) was found in the age group of below 25, while the 60-64 age group had the lowest proportion of abnormal result (4.5%). The overall proportion of abnormal smears was 7.2%.

* Age of registered women as at test report date.

5. Online access to Cervical Screening Information System (CSIS) by registered women

During 2004 - 2009, the total count of online access to CSIS by registered women was 212 117. Over one-third were online access by registered women aged 35-44 (Figure 11).

* Age of registered women as at date of submitting online enquiries.

6. Enquiries made by the public

In 2009, CSP had received a total of 20 697 public enquiries. Among them, 18 995 (91.8%) were enquiries through CSP hotline 2838 3113, 878 (4.2%) were through CSP email and 824 (4.0%) were public requests for obtaining information about cervical cancer or CSP through Health Education Hotline 2833 0111 of the Department of Health (Figure 12).