On behalf of the registered county list of incidents in Hungary in 2004, it came into view that the prevalence of cervix cancer is extremely high in Zala County, situated in the West-Transdanubian region. In Hungary the cervix screening based on personal invitation was launched within the scope of the National Program in 2003. This research aims to shed light on the reasons why women do not take the offered opportunity and what causes their non-attendance for screening. The sample, namely 520 women, was selected from Zalaegerszeg and its surrounding area using the comfort sampling technique. 51, 3% of the examined women attend the screening annually. The non-attendance of screening based on fear shows a significant relationship with the age, marital status and educational background (p<0,05). It is a well-known fact that a population screening can be efficient only if the members of the population have a demand for screening. An important pace in increasing the screening participation rate would be the spreading of knowledge in a wider range of society, which would help to prevent the possible negative effects in connection with the experience of the screening and would also help to prevent the mental trauma caused by the screening result.
Keywords: cervix cancer, Pap-test, organized screening, non-attendance