Prevention of cervical cancer with screening programme in Branicevo District and cost-effectiveness analysis adjusted to the territory of the Republic of Serbia.

PURPOSE: To establish the so-called positive screening instead of the current opportunistic screening for cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The program of positive screening covered all female persons aged 30-49 years living in the Branicevo District. All women were sent an invitation to participate in the screening and those who responded had Papanicolaou smear test done on the results of which further diagnostic procedures would be determined. RESULTS: The invitation to examination was responded by 11,200 (48.70%) out of 23,000 women invited. The costs of organized screening per capita amounted to Republic of Serbia dinar (RSD) 380.00 (EUR 4.75). 954 patients in total underwent colposcopy and conization, resulting in RSD total costs of 11,926,373.70 (149,079.00 EUR). Assuming the same incidence rate among the population that did not respond to the invitation, the number of women that would have such an intervention would be increased by 893. CONCLUSION: One-year screening programme is more effective than 3-year programme (180 lives saved compared to 113), but more expensive. This is our cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) relevant opinion, but not for adoption in practice.