Figure 1.

Definition of testing and index age bands. Testing in five- and three-year age bands against cervical cancers in the following five-year interval were examined. For example, for the five-year testing age bands, association between testing of women at ages 30 to 34 and cancers in women at ages 35 to 39 were examined. Note: those tests that occurred in the index age band (35 to 39) before the possible diagnosis were not considered. In the mode-specific analysis, only tests taken at the target ages of the national screening program (ages 30 to 64) were included: i.e., index ages of 35 to 69 and 33 to 67.