Unindicated Cervical Cancer Screening in Adolescent Females within a Large Healthcare System in the United States

Current consensus recommendations are to not initiate cervical cancer screening for immunocompetent adolescent females prior to age 21 years. This is in part due to very low rate of 0.8 per 100,000 new cervical cancer cases diagnosed among women ages 20 to 24 years. Timely HPV vaccination further decreases incidence of cervical cancer to 4 cases per 100,000 persons by the age of 28 years. Screening prior to age 21 has demonstrated no clear benefit in cancer risk reduction or outcomes. Additionally, unindicated screening among adolescents can lead to patient harm and increasing cost to the healthcare system.
Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Original Research: Gynecology Source Type: research