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Should we stop screening women under 25 for cervical cancer? (Poll Closed)

Yes 35% (157 votes)

No 65% (293 votes)

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Total Votes: 450



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2 Comments
Deborah Brown
2009-07-29 00:17:41 ET

People should note Finland's screening program - NO screening before age 30 and then 5 yearly until 60...
Finland has the lowest rates of cervical cancer in the world and the lowest number of cervical biopsies (& false positives)...roughly 55% of their screened women will have colposcopy/biopsies in their lifetime. (with only a very small number having any sign of malignancy)
In Australia, two-yearly screening including young women - almost 78% will have colposcopy/biopsies in their lifetime with only a very small number having any sign of malignancy. (L. Koutsky, Cancer Prevention, Fall 2004, Issue 4)
In the UK, three-yearly from age 25 - 65% of women

It's well known that screening young women causes more harm than good - cancer is rare in this age group and young women have a fairly high chance of producing an abnormal smear for things that would never progress to cancer.
Testing too frequently also means more false positives.
The States with annual screening (and some doctors even test virgins!) about 95% of women face colposcopy/biopsies. (RMDeMay, "Should we abandon pap smear testing, American Jnl of Clinical Pathology, 2000)
Biopsies can harm you...some women are left with psychosexual problems, psychological issues, damage causing problems with fertility and during pregnancy...not things to be taken lightly...
Yet most women are totally unaware of the dangers.
When a young person gets cancer, its a tragedy, but rare cases shaping screening policy is bad for the vast majority.
In the law, there is an expression that "hard cases make bad law"...
IMO, it equally applies to medicine and public health policy.

Assfoor
2009-07-30 08:11:27 ET

with decreasing age of sexual contact and increasing spreading of HPV infection , i think we musn't exclude this age group .


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