Cervical screening without a speculum for older women.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A pilot study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of offering cervical screening without a speculum to increase uptake in lapsed attenders aged 50-64
IRAS ID
242943
Contact name
Anita Lim
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 0 days
Research summary
Annually, around 20% of new cervical cancer diagnoses in the UK occur in women aged 65 and over, and around 50% of the deaths. Most of these cases occur in women who are not adequately screened when aged 50-64.
Smear tests can become uncomfortable with ageing and after the menopause and this can put some women off coming for cervical screening (previously known as ‘smear tests’). This is a problem because women who are not screened regularly are at higher risk of developing cervical cancer. One of the main causes of discomfort during a smear test is the speculum (the instrument used to hold the walls of the vagina open).There is another (newer) way we can do cervical screening which is by testing for the virus that causes cervical cancer; known as human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. HPV testing has introduced the possibility of new cervical screening approaches that are likely to be more acceptable to older women, as sampling from the cervix is not necessary and therefore samples can be collected without a speculum.
In this study we are offering two different options for non-speculum testing. The first option is a ‘speculum-free clinician test' taken by a practice nurse or GP. The second option is ‘self-test’ which the woman can collect herself in the comfort of her own home. Studies have shown that good quality samples are taken by both of these options and we believe that samples taken by either of these options will be as accurate as a standard screening test.
We want to find out if offering women the choice of having a cervical screening test without a speculum will increase screening uptake. We also want to find out how acceptable these tests are to women.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1175
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion