Middle-aged women who reject invitations to undergo cervical screening massively increase their risk of developing the disease, researchers warn today.
The risk of being diagnosed with cervical cancer increases by between four to six times among women who never go to for cervical screening after the age of 50, according to British researchers.
Between the ages of 50 and 64 women in England and Northern Ireland are invited for screening every five years. In Scotland screening takes place every three years but stops at the age of 60.
The study shows that women who are screened and have abnormal smear results face the highest risk of developing cancer – even though steps may be taken to prevent it. For every 10,000 of these women, 86 cancers would be detected, researchers say.
In contrast women who had normal results faced a risk of 8 cases for every 10,000.
And women who avoided screening faced a risk of 49 cancers for every 10,000 women.
The study involved comparing some 1,341 women who developed cancer by the age of 83 with another 2,646 women of 83 who were spared the disease.
Researchers, backed by Cancer Research UK, said there was no sign of differences in effectiveness between the Scottish and English systems. But, they warned, with an ageing population Scotland and other countries might need to extend the age of screening.
The findings were published in the journal PLoS Medicine last night.
Researcher Professor Peter Sasieni, of Queen Mary, University of London, said: "Screening up to the age of 65 greatly reduces the risk of cervical cancer in the following decade, but the protection weakens with time and is substantially weaker 15 years after the last screen.
"With life expectancy increasing, it’s important for countries that stop screening under age 60 to look into their screening programmes to maximise the number of cervical cancer cases prevented and the number of cervical cancers caught at an early stage."
Jessica Kirby, of Cancer Research UK, said: "These results provide reassurance that there is a real benefit to women over 50 having cervical cancer screening.
"Screening can pick up abnormal cells in the cervix that could develop into cervical cancer if left alone – removing these cells prevents cancer from developing."
Castanon A et al. Cervical Screening at Age 50 Years and the Risk of Cervical Cancer at Age 65 Years and Older: Population-Based Case Control Study. PLoS Med 14 January 2014; 11(1): e1001585; doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001585
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