Almost a third of women in their 20s have never been screened for cervical cancer – study

Nearly a third of women aged 21 to 29 have never been screened for cervical cancer, according to research tracking screening trends over 20 years.

The proportion of women in their 20s who reported never being screened for cervical cancer has increased over the past two decades.

Among women aged 30 to 64, almost 15 per cent also reported never having been screened.

Researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center analysed self-reported data from the National Health Interview Survey to examine the proportion of women who said they had never received screening in their lifetime.

Cervical screening aims to detect precancer and early-stage cancer, when treatment can be easier. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is the first line of defence against cervical cancer, with regular screening the next.

First author Kalyani Sonawane, assistant director for data science and analytics at Hollings, said: “A lot of times national surveys look at the up-to-date rate, meaning how many women are up to date on their screening.

“But this paper is slightly different because it measures the proportion of women who reported that in their lifetime, they’ve never received screening.”

Because the data was self-reported, the researchers said some women may have misremembered whether they had previously been screened.

The proportion of women who had never been screened increased by 5 per cent each year, while diagnoses of regional- and distant-stage cervical cancer also increased among women aged 30 to 64.

The researchers said lower screening rates could potentially contribute to cancers being detected after they have spread, once a woman notices symptoms and goes to the doctor, but the study was not designed to determine whether the two trends were linked.

The findings also showed that 45 per cent of women in their 20s were not vaccinated against HPV.

Sonawane said the researchers were unsure why the proportion of women who had never been screened was increasing.

In previous unpublished work, the team examined women’s responses about why they had not been screened. Many reported having no particular reason or said their healthcare provider had not raised screening with them.

Sonawane also suggested some women vaccinated against HPV might believe they no longer need screening, although screening guidelines continue to recommend it after vaccination.

The research found further disparities, with uninsured women, women living in the South and racial minorities particularly likely to report that they had never been screened.