Screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) remains an effective way to find high-risk strains of HPV early. With self-sample HPV testing kits, women can collect their own swab instead of having a doctor or nurse conduct the test. 

Two studies examine how women respond to HPV self-sampling testing and find that, when it’s offered, women prefer it. The self-collecting tests could encourage more HPV screening in populations missed in annual screenings.  

In the first study, researchers randomly assigned 640 women ages 30 to 69 in Singapore to one of two equal-sized groups. Healthcare providers asked women in the regular-care group if they would undergo clinician testing for HPV. 

In the interventional group, medical staff first asked if women would like a clinician to screen them for HPV. If they declined, they then offered them a self-collection kit. The study was published this week in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Scientists found a higher rate of high-risk HPV strains, 3.1%, in the interventional cohort, compared with 0.3% in the usual-care group. What’s more, women offered either clinician testing or self-testing were more likely to agree to screening, with 56.5% undergoing HPV screening in the intervention group and 42.8% in the usual-care group. 

“Offering self-sampling HPV DNA testing alongside clinician sampling significantly increased screening uptake and high-risk HPV detection rates,” wrote the authors, led by scientists at the National Healthcare Group in Singapore. 

The increase in willingness to undergo self-testing for HPV could have a positive impact in the country, where only 43% of women are screened annually for the virus, which is much lower than the national goal of screening 70% of eligible women. 

A study published today in JAMA Network Open examined the willingness of women with substance use disorder to engage in self-collection HPV testing. 

Such women tend to avoid medical care and are less likely to receive regular HPV screening. They’re also at increased risk of having long-term HPV infections. 

HPV self-collection testing can expand cervical cancer screening in settings that do not currently offer this service and reach previously unscreened patients, which should play a role in reduced health care disparities and cervical cancer mortality.

Scientists at the University of Washington wondered if offering self-testing at an outpatient opioid treatment program would increase women’s willingness to undergo HPV screening. Of 194 patients, 174 (89%) qualified for the study, 19 (9.8%) had recently been screened, and one (0.5%) was ineligible because she didn’t have a cervix. 

The vast majority of patients, 158 (90.8%), agreed to undergo self-collection HPV testing, which they conducted in the opioid treatment program’s restroom. 

Of those, 128 (81%) did not test positive for HPV; seven (4.4%) tested positive for HPV-16 or HPV-18, both high-risk strains of the virus; and 23 (14.6%) tested positive for another high-risk HPV strain. Of the 30 patients with positive HPV tests, 16 participated in follow-up care. 

“Using HPV self-collection testing was feasible and acceptable, with both high patient eligibility and uptake,” the authors wrote. “HPV self-collection testing can expand cervical cancer screening in settings that do not currently offer this service and reach previously unscreened patients, which should play a role in reduced health care disparities and cervical cancer mortality.”