The TeQaZ Study

Figure 1: Design of the TeQaZ study

Women with cervical cancer are informed about the study and are included after giving their written informed consent at the hospital. For every woman with cervical cancer, three women without cervical cancer, of the same age and residing in the same region, are randomly selected via population registries. The controls are invited to participate in the study via postal letter. Both groups (cases and controls) are contacted via telephone regarding participation in cervical cancer screening, socio-demographic information and risk factors.

Cervical cancer screening results and information about treatment are obtained via the women’s office-based gynecologists. The archived smears from cervical cancer screening over the past ten years are verified by internal study experts.

Confidentiality

Participation in the study is voluntary. The data are stored and analyzed at Cancer Epidemiology, University Cancer Center, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technischen Universität Dresden. Data are not passed on to third parties. Participants’ confidentiality is strictly maintained during scientific analysis and publication of study results. Findings cannot be traced back to individual study participants.

The ethics committee of the Technische Universität Dresden, as well as the ethics committees of the various participating states granted ethical approval for the TeQaZ study. The respective commissioners for state data protection also approved the study.

Study Team