Do Cervical Cancer Patients Diagnosed with Opportunistic Screening Live Longer? An Arkhangelsk Cancer Registry Study

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to compare cervical cancer (СС) patients diagnosed with and without screening in terms of: (i) sociodemographic and clinical characteristics; (ii) factors associated with survival; and (iii), and levels of risk. A registry-based study was conducted using data from the Arkhangelsk Cancer Registry. It included women with newly diagnosed malignant neoplasm of the uterine cervix during the period of 1 January 2005 to 11 November 2016 (N = 1548). The Kaplan-Meier method, the log-rank test, and Cox regression were applied. Most participants who were diagnosed by screening were at stage I and died less frequently from CC than those diagnosed without screening. The latter group was also diagnosed with СС at a younger age and died younger. Younger individuals and urban residents diagnosed with stage I and II, squamous cell carcinoma had longer survival times. Cox regression modeling indicated that the hazard ratio for death among women with CC diagnosed without screening was 1.61 (unadjusted) and 1.37 (adjusted). CC diagnosed by screening, cancer stage, patient residence, histological tumor type, and age at diagnosis were independent prognostic variables of longer survival time with CC. Diagnosis of CC made within a screening program improved survival.