Assessing 10-year safety of a single negative HPV test for cervical cancer screening: Evidence from FOCAL-DECADE cohort Anna Gottschlich

Anna Gottschlich, Dirk van Niekerk, Laurie W. Smith, Lovedeep Gondara, Joy Melnikow, Darrel Cook, Marette Lee, Gavin Stuart, Ruth E. Martin, Stuart Peacock, Eduardo L. Franco, Andrew J. Coldman, Mel Krajden, Gina S. Ogilvie HPV-based cervical cancer screening is more effective than cytology-based in detecting precancerous lesions. However, the appropriate screening interval length in HPV-based programs is debated, as the length of protection provided by a negative HPV test is yet to be fully understood. This study found that among women with a single negative HPV test, the long-term risk of detection of high-grade precancerous lesions was low over the 10-year follow-up, particularly through the first seven years. This suggests that one negative HPV test confers long-term protection from precancerous lesions. Even the 10-year risk was sufficiently low to support extended testing intervals in average risk populations. These findings support the safety of screening policies using HPV testing alone at five-year or longer intervals.

BC CDC Presenters

10/14/2020 10:45:00 PM