Do-it-yourself human papillomavirus (HPV) tests could allow an extra one million women in England to participate in cervical screening over the next three years.
The YouScreen trial provided self-sampling kits to test for HPV to women and people with a cervix who were at least six months overdue for their cervical screening. Researchers found offering self-sampling kits to under-screened women when they attend their GP practice and by posting kits to women’s homes could boost the numbers screened in England by about 400,000 each year.
The trial was led by King’s College London in partnership with NHS Cancer Alliances in North Central and North East London, NHS England and the NHS Cervical Screening Programme (NHSCSP). This work was sponsored by University College London and funded by the Cancer Alliances for north central and east London, with additional supportive funding from Cancer Research UK.
It marks the first-time self-sampling was offered within the NHS CSP and is the largest trial of self-sampling for cervical cancer in the UK to date. The self-sampling kits could be used either at GP practices or in the privacy and comfort of people’s homes.
The results, published in eClinicalMedicine, shows this simple and convenient test is an effective way to tackle the problem of fewer people attending cervical screening. Cervical cancer is highly preventable by screening and treating precancer – those not attending screening, or infrequently attending screening, at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer.
"Self-sampling has been hailed as a game-changer for cervical screening and we now have evidence in a UK population to show that it really is," commented lead investigator Dr Anita Lim.
"Women who don’t come for regular screening are at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer. Cervical screening participation has been falling in England for over two decades; currently almost a third of eligible women aren’t getting screened regularly and in some parts of London this is as high as 50%.
“It is crucial that we make cervical screening easier by introducing innovations like self-sampling, alongside the current cervical screening programme, to help protect more people from this highly preventable cancer. Self-sampling can do this by offering people choice and convenience.”
Self-sampling has already been introduced in several countries with the aim of increasing cervical screening participation rates including The Netherlands, Australia, Denmark and Sweden.
To view the full paper, click here