Review of the screening history of Alberta women with invasive cervical cancer
| Table 2: Category of screening failure, by histologic type of cancer and age of women | ||||||
| Category* | Histologic type;
no. (and %) of women | Age, yr;
no. (and %) of women | Total | |||
| Squamous-cell carcinoma | Adenocarcinoma | <= 49 | >= 50 | (and %) | 95% CI† | |
| Never screened | 62 (31.8) | 12 (23.5) | 31 (19.4) | 43 (50.0) | 74 (30.1) | 24.436.2 |
| Underscreened | 35 (17.9) | 3 (5.7) | 24 (15.0) | 14 (16.3) | 38 (15.4) | 11.220.6 |
| False-negative result | 31 (15.9) | 11 (21.6) | 35 (21.9) | 7 (8.1) | 42 (17.1) | 12.622.4 |
| Unconventional management or follow-up | 14 (7.2) | 6 (11.8) | 17 (10.6) | 3 (3.5) | 20 (8.1) | 5.012.3 |
| True-negative result | ||||||
| Technically limited smear | 11 (5.6) | 8 (15.7) | 11 (6.9) | 8 (9.3) | 19 (7.7) | 4.711.8 |
| Technically adequate smear | 4 (2.1) | 0 | 2 (1.2) | 2 (2.3) | 4 (1.6) | 0.44.1 |
| Unable to classify | 38 (19.5) | 11(21.6) | 40 (25.0) | 9 (10.5) | 49(19.9) | 15.125.5 |
| Total | 195 (79.3) | 51 (20.7) | 160 (65.0) | 86 (35.0) | 246 (100.0) | |
| *See Methods for definitions of categories.
†CI = confidence interval. | ||||||