These recommendations do NOT apply to women with in utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol or women who have a compromised immune system (e.g., women living with HIV).
The major change from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) 2012 recommendation is that testing for high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (hrHPV) alone is now recommended as an alternative to cytology or Papanicolaou (Pap) screening alone beginning at age 30 years; cotesting is no longer recommended.
As in the 2012 recommendation, the USPSTF continues to recommend that women aged 21 to 29 years undergo Pap screening every 3 years.
The USPSTF recommend against screening in women younger than age 21 years because there is adequate evidence that regardless of sexual history, screening younger women does not reduce cervical cancer incidence or mortality.
The USPSTF also continues to give a thumbs down to screening in women older than age 65 years who have had adequate prior screening and are not otherwise at high risk for cervical cancer, as well as in women who have had a hysterectomy and their cervix removed and do not have a history of a high-grade precancerous lesions or cervical cancer.
More Information
- Draft Recommendation Statement Cervical Cancer: Screening, uspreventiveservicestaskforce, September 2017.
- USPSTF Has New Draft Guidance for Cervical Cancer Screening, medscape, September 12, 2017.
- Grade Definitions After July 2012, uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.
- DES studies on cancers and screening.