Nearly 1 in 3 women never screened for cervical cancer: 5 notes

In 2023, nearly one in three women ages 21-29 had never received cervical cancer screening, according to a study published Aug. 27 in JAMA Network Open. 

Researchers from Charleston, S.C.-based Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey, U.S. Cancer Statistics and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program to assess cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination rates alongside cervical cancer incidence between 2001 and 2023.

Here are five notes from the study:

1. Between 2005 and 2023, the percentage of survey respondents ages 21-29 who reported never being screened for cervical cancer increased from 12.5% to 31.9%, with an average annual percentage change of 5.2%.
   
   The most pronounced increase occurred between 2010 and 2023, when the percentage of women ages 21-29 who reported never being screened for cervical cancer increased by an average of 7.9% annually.
   
   
2. Between 2005 and 2023, the percentage of women ages 30-65 who reported never being screened for cervical cancer increased from 5.3% to 14.8%.
   
   In 2023, one in seven women ages 30-65 had never received cervical cancer screening.
   

3. Demographically, Asian women were more likely to have never been screened for cervical cancer compared with non-Hispanic white women, and women with a high school, college or associate’s degree were more likely to have never been screened than women with a master’s or doctoral degree.
   
   
4. HPV vaccination rates among women ages 21-29 ranged from 5.7% in 2008 to 54% in 2019.
   
   
5. Regional- and distant-stage cervical cancer incidence among women ages 30-64 has increased by more than 2% each year since 2017.
   
   Distant-stage cervical cancer incidence had an annual percentage increase of 0.4% between 2001 and 2023.

Read the full study here. 

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