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30
1969
Throughout 1969, cytology sessions have continued in the Council's
centres at the rate of 6 a month with attendances averaging 6 per session.
In February, a large store with many women employees asked if
cytology clinics could be held in the staff clinic and it was arranged
that two sessions would be held every week for as long as necessary. In
all, 23 sessions were held and 307 women examined.
By the end of 1969, cytology sessions had been running for four
years and so far all women have been "first attenders". It is, therefore,
interesting to take stock of results and observations made.
Year
Sessions
held
Possible
attendances
Actual
attendances
Positive
smears
1966 54 580 433 6
1967 68 700 390 2
1968 87 1044 779 5
1969 95 1140 773 2
TOTALS 3464 2375 15
Demand for the Service
The purpose of cytological screening is to eradicate cancer of
the uterine cervix as a cause of death by detecting the condition in
the pre-malignant state when it can be successfully treated. Ideally,
all women in the vulnerable age group and more especially those in the
high risk groups of high parity and lower social class should be
screened every five years. In this borough, therefore, with approximately
40,000 women "at risk", 8,000 should present themselves
annually for examination but in practice, the total numbers seen
during 1969 at the Council's clinics and the Royal Marsden Hospital
were 773 and 326, a total of only 1,099 and of these many were under
35 and not in the "at risk" group.
Attendance by Social Class
The incidence of precancerous conditions of the cervix is known
to be three times greater in the Registrar General's Social Classes
3, 4 and 5 than in Classes 1 and 2, but unfortunately experience throughout
this country has been that women of the lower social groups are
least likely to come forward for examination. This is borne out by
investigation of records of over 1,000 women seen at the Council's
Centres - it was found that 33 Per cent were from Social Classes 1 and
2 compared to 24 per cent in the borough population as a whole.