Screening for Cervical cancer smear may be done at a different rate for people vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Vaccinated women could be screened every 5 to 10 years instead of the current three, and also start later.
Researchers at Harvard University’s Faculty of Public Health (USA) have established a mathematical model to establish the most cost-effective strategy to prevent cervical cancer. They analyzed the health benefits and costs of the three types of vaccines in use today, including two since 2006.
The results of the study showed that women vaccinated with the Gardasil 9 vaccinehave the lowest risk of uterine cancer. For these patients, screening every ten years from the age of 30 or 35 would suffice. But for young women who have been prescribed older versions of the bivalent or quadrivalent vaccines by doctors, screening would be necessary every five years starting at age 25 or 30.
The risk of a false-positive result increases sharply in the context of screening every three years.
“The current recommendations are not very suitable for these low risk women. We have found with our models that continuing intensive screening every three years for vaccinated women leads to excessive costs and adverse health effects, with little or no health benefit, ”explains Jane Kim, co-author of the study.
Women do not strictly follow recommendations
Despite the recommendation of a smear every three years for women aged 25 to 65, nearly 40% of women do not perform any control in France, according to the National Cancer Institute (Inca). To protect against HPV, there are two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix. In France, the High Council of Public Health estimated that the vaccine against papillomavirus should be offered in schools from the age of 9, i.e. two years before the current date of the first vaccine.
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