During 2012-2014 in Örebro County, Sweden, the organized screening program included women between 23 and 60. Women with normal cytology then used to exit the program at 55-60 years of age. The aim of this study was to see if HPV test (professionally collected and/or self-collected tests) could predict cervical histological changes and be used as screening option in this age group.
All women (between 55-60) with normal cytology in their exit sample in the screening program during the years 2012-2014, a total of 2030, were invited to participate in the study. All samples were genotyped for HPV DNA with CLART HPV2 (Genomica). A total of 249 of the 2030 (12.3%) women were positive for carrying any of the 35 HPV genotypes. Of these, 141/249 carried an intermediate or high risk HPV according to the IARC classification, group 1 and 2A and B. These 141 women were invited for a new visit with professional sampling, and also to use a self-sampling device, (Rovers Evalyn brush) and to have a cervical cone performed. Out of these 141 women, 99 have completed all the above these testing and also came for a follow up test 6 months after the histology sample.
Concordance between self-sampling and professionally collected samples was seen in 82.4% and both test methods correlated in the same way to the histological results. Abnormal histology was seen in 19/99(19%) of the performed cones. Follow up tests after 6 months showed that 17/99(17%) of the women still had a HPV positive test.
Further results and conclusion will be presented at the conference, with focus on different HPV genotypes, the concordance with histological findings and HPV persistence.