The effect of COVID-19 on the cervical screening programme within a Northern Irish Health and Social care trust

PRECIS: COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the waiting times for cervical screening and colposcopy but no impact on the severity of disease outcomes. ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES/PURPOSES OF THE STUDY: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cervical screening programme and colposcopy services in Northern Ireland. METHODS: All new patients referred to colposcopy following an abnormal cervical smear result from September to November 2019 and 2020 were included. Review patients and those referred to colposcopy for another indication in the same time frame were excluded. Data collected included the presenting smear result and the time to report, time interval to colposcopy review, cervical biopsy method, result and the time to report. Statistical analysis was performed using JASP (JASP V.0.16.1, 2022) and included Shapiro-Wilk normality test and Mann-Whitney U test to compare means. RESULTS: There was an 11% reduction in the number of presenting cervical smears (7155 vs 6379) in 2020 with a 46% reduction (158 vs 85) in the number of colposcopy referrals. In 2020 there was a mean increase of 6 days to report the presenting smear (P<0.01), mean decrease of 49 days to attend colposcopy (P<0.01) and a mean decrease of 36 days to report the cervical biopsy result (P<0.01). An increase of 14 days (P= 0.01) and 15 days (P=0.01) respectively to attend colposcopy for moderate and severe dyskaryosis in 2020. No statistical difference was seen in the frequency of presenting smear results, method of cervical biopsy and cervical biopsy results in 2020. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the number of patients referred to colposcopy and the time intervals in cervical screening but no significant short term impact on the severity of disease outcomes.