Cervical biopsy – contacts per 1,000 women, 18 years and older
Discussion
The number of biopsies has increased by 23% over the period, from 18,300 in 2017 to 22,400 in 2023. There is significant geographical variation in biopsy rates, with the areas with the highest rates performing about three times as many biopsies per 1,000 women compared to the areas with the lowest rates. This variation is therefore classified as unjustified. The areas for Førde, Finnmark, UNN, and Helgeland HF consistently have high biopsy rates, while the areas for Akershus, Møre og Romsdal, and Sørlandet HF consistently have low rates.
Almost half of the biopsies are performed by private practitioners for the country as a whole, but there are significant differences between the areas.
The proportion of those who received conization fell from 29% in 2017 to 22% in 2023. There are significant geographical differences in the proportion of conizations within 6 months after a biopsy. In the area for Førde HF, 17% were conized in 2023, while 32% were conized in the area for Sørlandet HF. The area for Førde HF had the highest biopsy rate in 2023, while the area for Sørlandet HF had the fifth lowest biopsy rate. Correlation analysis shows that there is a negative relationship between biopsy rate and the proportion of conizations in the areas.
The analysis is based on data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) for specialist healthcare services. The data includes activity in public hospitals, publicly funded private hospitals, and specialists in private practice under public funding contacts.
The sample consists of procedures with the procedure code for cervical biopsy: LDA10, LDA20, or LDA96 at hospitals or with tariff code 212a at private specialists.
Conization is defined as a procedure within 6 months after a biopsy, and conization is defined by the procedure codes LDC00 or LDC03 at hospitals or tariff code 210 at specialists.
The place of treatment is divided into three categories:
- Local public, treated at one of the hospitals in the catchment area
- Other public, treated at a public hospital outside the catchment area
- Private, treated by a private hospital or a private specialist
In order to compare the catchment areas and between years, the rates have been adjusted for gender and age. The adjustment was done using the direct method with the population in 2023 as the reference population.
In graphs with patient‑aggregated data, the numbers are adjusted to avoid double‑counting patients. The actual number of patients is therefore higher when looking at a single variable for a focus area. For example, patients who have received both private and public treatment during a year are counted only once in total, which means that the number of patients in private treatment will be underreported.
SKDE is solely responsible for the interpretation and presentation of the data provided by NPR. FHI/NPR is not responsible for analyses or interpretations based on the data.