3,800 women take part in HPV self-sampling pilot program for early cervical cancer detection

Over 3,800 women in the Baix Llobregat area south of Barcelona have taken part in an HPV self-sampling pilot program that health authorities hope will allow for the early detection of cervical cancer.

Around 80% of participants collected their self-testing kits in pharmacies and returned them there over the past few months, with 10% testing positive for the virus that is responsible for 99.9% of cervical cancer cases.

"The close causal relationship between the virus and cancer is one of the great discoveries of medicine," Laia Bruni of the Catalan Oncology Institute (ICO) told the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

9 in 10 HPV infections go away on their own, but around 10% end up causing precancerous lesions and cancer.

According to Bruni, HPV incidence rates have gone up as sexual behaviors have changed over the years.

Despite this, and thanks to screening strategies and HPV vaccines, Spain has one of the lowest cervical cancer rates in the world – 5.3 cases per 100,000 people with cervixes – according to the Spanish Oncological Medicine Society (SEOM).

Possible screening changes

Women and trans men currently get pap smears every three years in the public health system, but health authorities are now considering carrying them out every five years and expanding access to HPV self-testing kits in pharmacies.

HPV tests are more sensitive than pap smears – only 5% of the latter were positive compared to 10% of the former.

The ICO carried out the Baix Llobregat pilot program at the request of the Catalan health department with the aim of assessing how it would "possibly be extended" to a wider segment of the population, but authorities have not given further details of when or how this would be the case.