Cancer screening programmes

County – place of residence (source: the population register). Data is unknown if person has left Estonia or died during screening year. Until 2017, data by the counties is distributed by the administrative division that existed before administrative reform (October 2017). Data starting from 2018 is distributed by new administrative division.

Coverage by examination – extent to which screening examinations (mammography, HPV-test or colonoscopy) have actually been delivered to the eligible population. From 2021, the primary test for cervical cancer screening is the HPV NAT test. Until 2020, the PAP-test was used as the primary examination.

Health insurance – health insurance status (source: Estonian Health Insurance Fund).

Invitation sent – the number of people to whom either an e-invitation, SMS notification or a paper invitation for screening has been sent. Note: the invitation is not sent 1) if contact address, phone number, and email address is missing, 2) if person is screened before the invitation is planned to be sent, 3) if person is moved abroad or 4) if person died. From 2015 to 2020, invitation was not sent to people without health insurance, but from 2021, all people living in Estonia will receive an invitation/reminder regardless of whether they have health insurance and if there are no other conditions for exclusion from screening. SMS reminders are included in "invitation sent" calculations since 2024.

Invitational coverage – extent to which the invitations have been sent out to the eligible population.

Invited to breast cancer screening – people in target population who have not been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past five years (source: Estonian Cancer Register and Health Information System, ICD-10 codes C50 and D05) and have not received mammography in the last 12 months (source: Estonian Health Insurance Fund and Health Information System). Starting from the year 2026, women who have undergone double mastectomy procedure are not invited to breast cancer screening.

Invited to cervical cancer screening – people in target population who have not been diagnosed with cervical cancer in the past five years (source: Estonian Cancer Register and Health Information System, ICD-10 codes C51–C55 and D06).

Invited to colon (colorectal) cancer screening – people in target population who have not been diagnosed with colon cancer before (source: Estonian Cancer Register and Health Information System, ICD-10 codes C18–C20) and who have not received colon cancer screening programme colonoscopy additional examination.

Screened – primary study document received in the Cancer Screening Register.

Target population – people residing in Estonia of eligible age and sex (source: the population register) according to the screening programme policy.

The information on cancer screening programmes is derived from the database of the Estonian Cancer Screening Register. The register functions as a digital registry to which the data is obtained from the Estonian National Health Information System. The data there is provided by all health care providers. The register also changes data through the X-Road data exchange with different national databases:

• Estonian Population Register – a list of target population with contact information. Information is updated regularly;
• Estonian Cancer Register – diagnoses and dates of diagnoses for colon cancer during a person’s lifetime and for breast cancer and cervical cancer during the last five years in the target population;
• Estonian Health Insurance Fund – health insurance status and screening information, cancer diagnosis and family doctor information. Data is checked regularly before sending invitations, for statistical and research purposes twice a year or as needed;
• Estonian Health Information System – data of diagnosed cancer and screening.
• Causes of Death Register

All information is received in the course of automatic data inquiries. The data is also supplemented with data from health care providers and the Health Insurance Fund by making direct inquiries.

Additional information about cancer screening register can be found on National Institute for Health Development's web page.

Classification of Administrative and Settlement Units of Estonia (EHAK)

This classification is used upon submission of regional statistics. Cancer screening programmes statistics are submitted by 15 counties and starting from 2019 the screening coverage data for Tallinn and Tartu is also published. Until 2017, data by the counties is distributed by the administrative division that existed before administrative reform (October 2017). Data starting from 2018 is distributed by new administrative division. This classification system is available on the webpage of the Statistics Estonia in the Classifications section.

Additional information about cancer screening register can be found on National Institute for Health Development's web page.

Estonian Cancer Screening Register

National Institute for Health Development

E-mail: soeluuring@tai.ee

Renewed: 2.02.2026