HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Oct. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women who’ve been vaccinated against human papillomavirus ( HPV) likely need fewer cervical cancer screenings, a new study argues.
Just how often a woman needs a cervical cancer screening depends on the type of vaccine she had, the researchers said.
Women vaccinated with earlier versions of the HPV vaccine — which protect against the two worst cancer-causing strains of the sexually transmitted virus — only need cervical cancer screening every five years starting at age 25 or 30, the study concluded.
Women who’ve received the updated vaccine, which protects against seven cancer-causing strains of HPV, need screening even less often. The researchers recommend testing these women every 10 years starting at age 30 to 35 and ending at age 65.
Both screening regimens would be much less rigorous than current guidelines, which call for cervical cancer exams from age 21 every three years with a Pap test until age 30, then switching to a combination Pap test/ HPV test every five years.
“Under no circumstances are the currently recommended strategies in any way preferred in these two groups of vaccinated women,” said lead researcher Jane Kim. She’s a professor of health decision science at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“I’m hoping this brings awareness to the policy makers that there needs to be a revision, hopefully to provide people with information among those with a good sense of what their vaccine status is, at least,” she said.
However, it’s unlikely that the American Cancer Society will revisit its cervical cancer screening recommendations in the near future, said Debbie Saslow, senior director of HPV-Related and Women’s Cancers for the ACS.
Too few women are getting the HPV vaccine, and the United States does a poor job of tracking vaccinations, Saslow said.
“We need to get vaccine rates up, we need to track them better, and we need to vaccinate on time,” Saslow said. “Then we can change our screening guidelines.”
HPV causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. The early versions of the HPV vaccine are expected to prevent 70 percent of cervical cancer cases worldwide, while the newer version could prevent 90 percent of cases, the study authors said in background information.
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