Breast and cervical cancer screening and disease incidence and stage in New Mexico.

Objective: Data on the health impact of breast and cervical cancer screening programs for low-income women are limited. We sought to determine whether a statewide program to provide breast and cervical cancer screening services influenced trends in disease incidence and stage.

Methods: We assessed trend data regarding breast and cervical cancer incidence and stage gathered by the New Mexico Tumor Registry and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program before (1975 through 1990) and during (1991 through 1998) implementation of the New Mexico Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

Results: The incidence of cervical carcinoma in-situ increased rapidly in 1991. The incidence per 100,000 population for in-situ breast cancer (2.9 in 1975-1982, 8.5 in 1983-1990, and 16.8 in 1991-1998) and local breast cancer (39.9 in 1975-1982, 46.5 in 1983-1990, and 61.3 in 1991-1998) also increased during the program operation. Notably, a significant increase in incidence per 100,000 population for regional and distant breast cancer from 1975-1982 (31.5) to 1983-1990 (36.0) declined during the 1991-1998 (33.2) period of program operation.

Conclusions: The statewide screening program improved detection of breast and cervical cancer and helped reduce the incidence of advanced stages of breast cancer in a relatively short time period.