Hundreds more women’s lives could be saved every year if every woman invited to come for NHS cervical cancer screening turned up at their appointment, experts in the disease have revealed.

New research has found that screening for cervical cancer is so effective that it prevents an estimated 1,827 deaths a year from it in England alone.

However, if all women aged between 25 and 64 who were invited for screening attended, an extra 347 deaths a year there – almost half the 2014 total of 726 in England – could be avoided, researchers said.

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, is the first of its kind to establish the impact that screening has had on deaths from the disease by examining screening information from women who have been diagnosed with it.

“Thousands of women in the UK are alive and healthy today thanks to cervical screening,” said Prof Peter Sasieni, the lead researcher, who is based at Queen Mary University of London.

“The cervical screening programme already prevents thousands of cancers each year and as it continues to improve, by testing all samples for the human papilloma virus, even more women are likely to avoid this disease,” he added.

Sasieni and his team reached their conclusions after studying the records of more than 11,000 women in England who had been diagnosed with the disease.

Women aged 50 to 64 who come for screening, usually at a GP’s surgery, benefit the most. There would be five times more women of that age dying from cervical cancer if screening did not exist.

Screening for cervical cancer was introduced across the UK in 1988. Women aged 25-49 are invited to come every three years and those aged 50 to 64 every five years, though in Scotland it is offered to females aged between 20 and 60.

But there is concern that the falling numbers of women attending screening appointments may leave some at risk. Overall, between 70% and 73% of all eligible women turn up and the numbers have been falling since the surge in attendance sparked by the death of the reality-TV star Jade Goody from the disease in 2009.

Dr Anne Mackie, Public Health England’s director of screening, said: “It is of concern that a smaller proportion of women are being screened. This is particularly evident in younger women, with 63.5% of women under 30 being screened every three years.

“We are working hard to address this with academics and local services to investigate and use new ways of improving screening uptake among younger women,.”

The latest data for England showed that 73.5% of eligible women came to cervical screening appointments in 2014-15, down from the 74.2% seen the year before, added Mackie.

Nicola Smith, a senior health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said discomfort and embarrassment deterred some women from attending.

“Most women who are invited for cervical screening do take up the offer but it is a personal choice. Cervical screening saves many lives but no test is perfect and treatment for abnormal cells can have risks.

“If you have concerns about the procedure, for example you find it uncomfortable, it’s a good idea to speak to the practice nurse as there may be things they can do to make you more comfortable.

“Some women may be embarrassed by the test but nurses do tests like this all the time so there’s no need to be worried and you can ask to see a female doctor if you’d prefer,” said Smith.

Older women may not see the point of coming, Smith added. “Older women may not think this type of screening is relevant to them, but while cervical cancer is unusual in that it affects women at younger ages than most cancers, older women also develop the disease”, she said.