Published 6 August 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3186
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3186

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An embarrassment of riches

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

At what age should women start having cervical screening? In England screening begins at 25, but elsewhere in the United Kingdom it’s offered from the age of 20. Campaigners have questioned this since the death in February from cervical cancer of the reality television star Jade Goody, who was 27, and at last month’s BMA annual conference 68% of voters called to lower the screening age in England.

Now a large population based study across the UK has provided compelling evidence to support the English stance (doi:10.1136/bmj.b2968). Peter Sasieni and colleagues found that although screening was associated with a 60% reduction of cancers in women aged 40, increasing to 80% at age 64, there was no evidence that screening women aged 22-24 reduced the incidence of cervical cancer over the next five years. While 73 women in this youngest group had cervical cancers, only five could be attributed . . . [Full text of this article]

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