At-home HPV tests could help screen 104,000 more women for cervical cancer in Yorkshire

At-home human papillomavirus (HPV) tests could help screen 104,000 more women in Yorkshire for cervical cancer, according to analysis by Yorkshire Cancer Research.

The charity is calling for HPV self-sampling to be introduced as soon as possible to help achieve the Government’s ambition to ‘eliminate cervical cancer by 2040’. 

Cervical screening is currently offered to women aged 25 to 64 every three or five years depending on age and usually involves having a small sample of cells taken from the cervix in a medical setting. The sample is first tested for HPV, which causes almost all cases of cervical cancer. If HPV is found, further checks for cell changes can be carried out and if needed, treatment can be offered to prevent cancer. 

Participation in cervical screening has decreased by 2.7% in Yorkshire since 2018/19, with rates struggling to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a quarter of women in Yorkshire are not up to date with their screening, meaning nearly 400,000 women in the region are missing out on vital tests each year. Participation also varies significantly within the region, from 68% in Bradford to 78% in East Riding.

Self-sampling enables women to carry out either a swab or urine test in the privacy of their own homes, helping to overcome barriers such as inconvenience and embarrassment. 

Findings from the YouScreen trial, which was the first study to integrate self-sampling into the NHS, showed that introducing a swab test option could increase participation in cervical screening by as much as 7.4% over a three-year period. This means an additional 104,000 women in Yorkshire who are currently eligible for screening could take part in the programme.

Another study called HPValidate found that 85% of women would prefer having the choice between self-sampling and screening by a clinician. 

Yorkshire Cancer Research is currently funding a clinical trial called Catch-up Screen, which is offering at-home urine tests to thousands of women aged between 60 to 79 in Hull who did not take up their last invitation or are no longer eligible for the programme and missed out on recent improvements in the screening process.

Though women are routinely invited to take part in cervical screening until they are 64, women closer to the upper age limit who have previously been screened regularly are less likely to attend their last appointments due to various reasons, including previous pain or embarrassment. Preliminary findings from the Catch-Up Screen study show that within a group of women aged 60 to 64 who did not take up their final invitation to screening, half did take up the offer of an at-home test. 

Further data analysis by Yorkshire Cancer Research has also found that HPV vaccination rates in year 8 females in Yorkshire have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In 2018/19 91% of female year 8 students in Yorkshire had received at least one dose of the vaccination, compared to 74% in 2023/24. The latest Government report cites several possible reasons, including vaccine hesitancy and fatigue, programme disruption and staffing issues all relating to the pandemic.

The HPV vaccine, introduced in 2008, is recommended for children aged 12 to 13 years old. It helps prevent cervical cancer by reducing the risk of getting HPV, which is spread through skin-to-skin contact of the genital area.

The vaccine is so effective that a study from Public Health Scotland published last year found that no cervical cancer cases have been detected in fully vaccinated women in Scotland since the programme was launched. It is expected that vaccinated women will need to be screened much less frequently in the future.

Yorkshire Cancer Research recently responded to the UK National Screening Committee’s proposal to offer self-sampling for HPV testing as part of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.