Women are not screened
Although 333 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in Denmark in 2022, many women are not screened for the disease when they are summoned.
Screening for cervical cancer
- All women in Denmark aged 23 to 64 are offered screening for cervical cancer. Depending on the method and age, you are called up every 3 or every 5 years.
- If you do not book an appointment with the doctor after being summoned, you will receive a reminder after three months, and another reminder after six months.
- There are two types of tests. Both are taken by the same method, i.e. by collecting cells. Some are tested for the HPV virus, which is often responsible for cervical cancer. In the second type of test, you look for cell changes in the sample.
Chief physician Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen and the National Board of Health
A new report from the Danish Quality Database for Cervical Cancer Screening shows that almost 40 per cent of the women in North Jutland do not get a screening done within a year of being invited for screening.
But for just over a year, in Region North Jutland, women have been offered to be tested at home if they have not booked an appointment within six months.
Region Nordjylland is not the first to send out this type of home test. It started as a pilot project with the Capital Region, and now it has spread to the other regions. Most recently, Region Zealand began offering home tests this year. Photo: Lars Pauli
How the HPV home test works
The home test is somewhat similar to the one you get from the doctor, although you have to take it yourself.
You order the test from the region and get it sent by post. The test itself is a tube with a small brush at the end, which is inserted into the vagina.
Then you turn the brush around five times, withdraw the brush, take out the tube and send the package back to the hospital.
If the test is positive, you will be asked to make an appointment with the doctor for further examinations.
If it is negative, you can wait for an invitation to the next screening after three or five years, depending on age.
Senior physician Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen
In the North Jutland region, Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen, senior physician at the pathology department at Aalborg University Hospital, and her colleagues are responsible for the home test.
In the department, they examine around 36,000 samples each year for precursors to cervical cancer. Both those from the doctor, but now also home tests.
Will catch it in time
When a woman with cervical cancer sends in her samples, it is Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen and her colleagues who look at the samples and make the diagnosis. Therefore, she sees how bad things can get once the cancer is there.
And it is often young women who have to undergo various treatments with greater or lesser consequences.
Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen is a senior physician at the pathology department at Aalborg University Hospital. Thus, it is her and her colleagues who are responsible for the new home tests that were introduced in North Jutland in April 2023. Photo: Lars Pauli
Some can make do with a so-called cone section, where the part of the uterus where there are cancerous changes is removed. But if the cancer is allowed to develop, it may be necessary to remove the uterus, says Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
This also removes the possibility for women to have children. This is particularly problematic as the cancer often develops in young women.
– I would like to see as few of them as possible, says Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
Sensitive testing reaches more people
In Region North Jutland, you are offered the home test in the second reminder letter. This means if you have not booked an appointment six months after the first invitation letter.
But even if the HPV self-test is taken at home, it is no worse than the one taken at the doctor’s.
– The HPV test is a more sensitive method. This means that it is more sensitive, so we catch slightly more women than we do with the cell-based test, says Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
Precisely because it is a more sensitive method, this type of test can also cause unnecessary anxiety in women if the test is positive, she explains.
Because the vast majority of women get the HPV virus during their lifetime if they are sexually active. Often the body can fight the virus itself, but sometimes it happens that the virus takes hold and can later cause cell changes.
It is typically the bioanalysts in the pathology department who receive home tests. During the first year, 1,047 North Jutland women ordered a home test. In the same period, 15,849 second reminder letters were sent out in North Jutland. Photo: Lars Pauli
Therefore, a positive test for HPV does not mean that you will get cell changes or cervical cancer.
Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen also points out that this type of test, which takes place at home, appeals to women who are otherwise not screened for cervical cancer.
Too busy and too uncomfortable
For approximately 40 per cent of the women who during the first year have accepted the offer of a home test in Region North Jutland, have not previously participated regularly in the screening programme.
28 per cent of the women have waited eight years or more or have not been to a screening at all before, even if they have been summoned.
Once the pathology department has received the samples, they are processed and examined. Among other things in one of these machines. Photo: Lars Pauli
In Region North Jutland, no investigation has been carried out into why the women who order a home test do not otherwise have a screening done.
But in a previous trial with an open clinic, where you could get screening without an appointment, it was clear that there were several reasons why women otherwise do not get the test.
– They divide into two groups. There are those women who are busy and where it is difficult to get an appointment with their own doctor. And then there are the women who feel uncomfortable with gynecological examinations. Maybe they think they know the GP too well, or maybe they don’t want to have gynecological examinations done, explains Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
And those are the ones you reach with the home test, she elaborates.
Cancer in the younger women
But why is it important to be screened when, after all, only 36 people from North Jutland were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2022?
There are several reasons for this, says Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
Because even though we don’t see so many cases in Denmark today, it looked somewhat different before vaccinating against the HPV virus and screening for cervical cancer started.
There are several reasons for starting to introduce HPV home testing. And they are already used in other countries, says Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen. Photo: Lars Pauli
– Cervical cancer is a serious disease that typically affects younger women. Worldwide, it is still the fourth most common cancer in women and a frequent cause of death for women under 50. But because we have had a screening program in Denmark for many years, you may sometimes forget how common a disease it has been, explains she.
At the same time, you typically do not have symptoms when you are infected with HPV or have cell changes.
Many young women today have been vaccinated against the HPV virus. Although the vaccine reduces the risk of cervical cancer, it does not eliminate the risk completely.
But if you find changes in a screening in time, you can prevent the cancer, explains Anna Poulsgaard Frandsen.
The home test can currently only be ordered when you have received another reminder letter from Region Nordjylland.
2024-11-10 14:32:00
#women #tested
It appears that you have shared a section of text regarding cervical cancer screening and home testing for HPV (Human Papillomavirus) in North Jutland, Denmark. The information provided includes statistics on women’s participation in screening programs, reasons for not attending screenings, and the importance of ongoing testing despite low cervical cancer rates in recent years.
Here’s a summary of the key points:
1. **Participation in Home Testing**: In North Jutland, 1,047 women ordered home tests in the first year, with many being those who had not previously participated in screenings.
2. **Barriers to Screening**: Approximately 40% of women who accepted the home test offer had not participated regularly in the screening program before. Reasons for avoiding screenings include busy schedules and discomfort with gynecological examinations.
3. **Importance of Screening**: Despite a small number of diagnosed cases—36 women diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2022—screenings are crucial. Historical data shows a higher incidence of cervical cancer before the introduction of HPV vaccination and cervical screening programs.
4. **Demographics**: There is an acknowledgment that women who may feel uncomfortable about traditional testing methods are reached effectively through home testing.
If you have specific questions about the information or need further details, feel free to ask!
