Evaluation of an intelligent digital platform for population management in cervical cancer screening.

OBJECTIVE

To describe temporal changes associated with deployment of an optical character recognition (OCR)-enabled One-Identity (One-ID) digital platform for rural cervical cancer screening, focusing on over-screening rates, CIN2+ detection, colposcopy follow-up, and CIN2+ management.

METHODS

A multi-county pre-post observational study was conducted in six rural counties in Shanxi, Yunnan, and Sichuan Provinces (2021-2024), encompassing 153,978 encounters. The digital platform integrates OCR identity capture, deterministic One-ID linkage, and real-time duplicate alerts. Over-screening proportions before and after digital deployment were compared, changes in CIN2+ detection rate were evaluated, and colposcopy follow-up and CIN2+ management were assessed. Differences were tested with χ2 or Fisher's exact tests.

RESULTS

Among 153,978 encounters, the proportion of over-screening decreased from 12.64% in 2023 to 0.17% in 2024 with an absolute reduction of 12.17% (95% CI: 11.94-12.40; P < 0.001). The share of women receiving a first screening within the preceding 3 y increased from 78.3% to 88.2% (P < 0.001). Colposcopy completion improved from 64.1% to 84.9%. The CIN2+ detection rate rose from 0.35% (2021-2023 pooled) to 0.67% in 2024 (P < 0.001) and CIN2+ management completion increased from 56.0% to 76.2% (95% CI: 13.3-27.2; P < 0.001). These improvements were consistent across age groups, counties, and screening strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

The OCR-enabled One-ID platform substantially reduced over-screening, increased CIN2+ detection rate, and strengthened case follow-up/management, particularly where baseline tracking was weak, supporting scalable digital reinforcement of rural screening programmes.