The Department of Health has announced it is contemplating the return of cervical cancer screening in England for women under the age of 25. At present, only women between the ages of 25 and 64 are eligible for free NHS cervical screening every three to five years.
Young women used to be invited to have cervical screening from the age of 20, but in 2003 the Government increased the lower age limit for cervical screening, more commonly known as a “smear”, from 20 years to 25 years. The Government’s decision was based on advice from Cancer Research UK, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the Independent Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening, who advised that few women under the age of 25 develop cancer and therefore screening could cause more harm than good by young women undergoing needless and harmful investigations for symptoms that may resolve themselves.
The decision in 2003 to increase the cervical screening age limit to 25 years in England was met with public resistance, and over the ensuing years there has been a continued publication of stories concerning young women who have died from undetected cervical cancer due to being denied routine smears.
The purpose of a smear is to detect abnormal changes in cervical cells before they develop into cancer. Treating the early changes is straightforward, effective and can prevent the development of cancer. Around 3,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year. It can affect women of any age who are, or once were, sexually active.
Early detection of abnormalities is important, as a woman’s chances of successful treatment are greatly affected by the stage of the cervical cancer at diagnosis. According to the Cancer Research UK website
“If the cancer is detected at the earliest stage, over nine in ten women survive for five years past the point of diagnosis. But if it is detected at the most advanced stage, only one in four women do so”.
There are currently two different screening programmes run in Britain since 2003; women living in England receive their first invitation for a routine smear once they are 25 years old, whereas women living in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are still invited at 20 years old.
A leading sexual health charity, Marie Stopes International, supports the return of cervical cancer screening for women under the age of 25. Liz Davies, MSI Director of UK and Europe, says
“Bringing screening for English women into line with the rest of the UK, can only prove to be a beneficial move”.
The Department of Health’s announcement that it is considering lowering the cervical screening age limit in England once more to age 20, comes amidst the former Big Brother contestant Jade Goody’s highly publicised terminal diagnosis of cervical cancer at the age of 27 and increasing concerns over the safety of the cervical cancer vaccine that was introduced as part of a national programme in 2008 to vaccinate girls aged 12-13 against some strains of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which are known to cause cervical cancer.
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