Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Members & Subscribers
    • Benefits for CMA Members
    • CPD Credits for Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription Prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Members & Subscribers
    • Benefits for CMA Members
    • CPD Credits for Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription Prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News

Canada isn’t making the most of DIY tests for HPV

Yana Fedyanova
CMAJ March 12, 2018 190 (10) E304; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-5573
Yana Fedyanova
CMAJ
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Stripped from the waist, legs splayed in stirrups, many women find cervical cancer screening invasive and embarrassing, which may lead them to delay or avoid testing.

Last year, Health Canada approved the first self-testing kits for strains of human papilloma virus (HPV) that cause most cases of cervical cancer. Self-testing is potentially a “really great tool to offer women who just aren’t engaging in screening,” says Dr. Sheila Dunn, director of research at the Family Practice Health Centre at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. But until these do-it-yourself kits are incorporated into official screening programs, their usefulness may be limited.

Screening for HPV infection more accurately detects precancerous changes in the cervix than pap smears. And unlike a pap test, which requires a doctor to scrape cells from a woman’s cervix to check for abnormalities, HPV testing can be done on a vaginal swab that a woman takes her-self. Self-sample tests are slightly less sensitive and specific than HPV testing performed by professionals, but they’re a valid alternative for women who wouldn’t be screened otherwise, says Dunn. Women in remote areas, those past menopause, and newcomers to Canada are commonly under-screened, she explains.

A recent Canadian review found strong evidence that self-sample HPV tests increase participation in screening among hard-to-reach women. The authors also concluded that it is unlikely self-sampling will lead to additional costs for screening programs. However, “the groups that are under-screened are often the groups that need it the most, and are unaware of it as an option,” Dunn says.

“Offering this option within a population-based program would increase awareness,” says Brianne Wood, a clinical research fellow at Eve Medical, the company that launched the self-sample tests in Canada. “Women will have different reasons for different preferences, but it is important that they have a choice,” she says.

Figure

Self-sampling HPV tests are now available in Canada, but fall outside cancer screening programs.

Image courtesy of SKashkin/iStock

Self-sample HPV tests aren’t offered through established screening programs or covered by public health plans. This means women have to pay for the tests out-of-pocket. But beyond the issue of choice, Dunn argues that excluding self-testing from screening programs undermines those programs. “The advantages of having the whole population engaged in a population-based screening program are lost when women do this outside of the program,” she says.

Australia and the Netherlands were the first countries to integrate self-sample HPV tests into cervical cancer screening programs. British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario are considering HPV testing as a primary screening tool, but self-sampling hasn’t been addressed.

“It would be nice it was offered to any woman as one of the alternatives, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” says Dunn.

Footnotes

  • Posted on cmajnews.com on Feb. 21, 2018.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 190 (10)
CMAJ
Vol. 190, Issue 10
12 Mar 2018
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Canada isn’t making the most of DIY tests for HPV
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Canada isn’t making the most of DIY tests for HPV
Yana Fedyanova
CMAJ Mar 2018, 190 (10) E304; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5573

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Canada isn’t making the most of DIY tests for HPV
Yana Fedyanova
CMAJ Mar 2018, 190 (10) E304; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5573
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • What to know about Omicron XBB.1.5
  • Could a flu shot push help curb pediatric hospitalizations?
  • Stalemate: What’s holding up a new health accord?
Show more News

Similar Articles

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • Accessibiity
  • CMA Civility Standards
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

Powered by HighWire