Abstract
Objective
–To investigate changes in attendance over the course of a population based breast screening programme.
Design
– Longitudinal; analysis of registered data over nine screening rounds.
Setting
–Subjects belong to the screening population of the Nijmegen experimental breast screening programme (1975–1990).
Subjects
–A cohort of 6898 women who were enrolled in 1975 at the age of 50–69 years and who were invited to nine subsequent screening rounds, irrespective of their attendance at previous rounds.
Results
–Attendance of women aged 50–53 years at entry was high at the initial screening (88%), decreased in the course of the programme, but remained well over 60% until round 8; 39% completed nine rounds and 24% completed seven to eight rounds. Attendance of women who were older at entry was somewhat lower at the initial screening (87%–82%) and declined more strongly. Regular compliance was also lower. Specific compliance patterns are found that can be relevant for further research.
Conclusions
–A substantial proportion of eligible women can be committed to mammography every two years, possibly even after reaching the age of 70, if the age at entry is around 50 and the screening programme is well established in the community. Starting a screening programme in older women seems ineffective.