• Posted December 10, 2024

Task Force Supports Women Over 30 Collecting Samples for Cervical Cancer Screening

In guidelines that may encourage more women to get screened for cervical cancer, a leading health task force has backed giving women over 30 the option to collect their own vaginal samples for testing.

Instead of needing to have a complete pelvic exam, these women can now go to a doctor’s office and collect their own tissue to be tested for human papillomavirus (HPV), the infection that causes almost all cases of cervical cancer, say new guidelines issued on Tuesday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Women can now use a swab to collect their own HPV samples, the task force said, because studies have shown self-collection is as accurate as when the tissue sample is collected by a clinician and it is proven to increase screening.

“Women who would be more comfortable collecting their HPV test sample themselves can now do so,” task force member Dr. Esa Davis said in a news release announcing the new guidance. “We hope that this new, effective option helps even more women get screened regularly.”

Experts noted that any efforts to get more women screened would be welcomed.

“What we worry about, as doctors who take care of women with cervical cancer, is that if screening becomes less routine, people kind of forget to do it,” Dr. Karen Lu, physician-in-chief of Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., told the New York Times.

The latest guidance follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of a self-testing kit for cervical cancer last May. That test should be repeated every five years from age 30 until 65, when most women can stop screening, the task force added.

For those 30 and older, other screening options include Pap tests every three years, or a combined Pap smear and HPV test every five years, the task force noted. Still, an HPV test every five years is the ideal screening regimen.

The guideline change was issued amid growing concern over a drop in cancer screenings and confusion over cervical cancer testing regimens.

“It’s important to emphasize that cervical cancer is one of the most treatable and preventable types of cancer,” because screening is so effective, said Dr. John Wong, vice chair of the task force.

Most women who develop cervical cancer are those who have not been getting regular screening, the Times reported. About one-quarter of women aged 21 to 65 were not up-to-date on their cervical cancer screenings in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cervical cancer kills 350,000 women annually around the globe. However, incidence fell dramatically in the United States over the last five decades. Between 1975 and 2022, to 6.8 cervical cancer cases per 100,000 women per year were 6.8 cases in 2022 compared to 13.9 cases per 100,000 women each year in 1975, the Times reported. Pap smears fueled much of that decline.

This year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that 13,820 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and that about 4,360 women will die of the disease.

The ACS guidelines on cervical cancer screening emphasize that “the most important thing to remember is to get screened regularly, no matter which test you get.”

Women can stop screening at age 65 as long as they have had a history of normal test results from the past three Pap smears or their last two HPV tests.

More information

The CDC has more on HPV.

SOURCE: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, news release, Dec. 10, 2024; New York Times