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SYDNEY - Women could wait longer between pap smears than they are currently advised to, according to a study of Australian cervical cancer rates.
At present, Australian women are advised to have a pap smear every two years.
But they would not be any worse off if they had a smear every three years, say cancer experts who compared screening programmes in Australia and Britain.
The review found that screening had produced a similar dramatic drop in cervical cancer rates and deaths in both countries, despite Britain only rescreening every three years.
The average rates of cervical cancer in women aged 20-69 years fell by 33 per cent in both Australia and Britain between 1991-1993 and 1998-2000.
Deaths from cervical cancer fell by 36 per cent in both countries during the same period.
The researchers from the Cancer Council NSW argue that the results, published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia, prove the commonwealth should review its programme.
The two-yearly screening policy in Australia and the predominantly three-year screening policy in Britain appear to have been of broadly similar effectiveness, writes lead researcher and cancer epidemiologist Dr Karen Canfell.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also recently recommended that women aged 25 to 49 years be rescreened at three-yearly intervals, and women over the age of 50 at five-year intervals.
"Given the results of our analysis and the latest IARC recommendations, it seems timely to reconsider screening intervals in Australia," the study concludes.
Dr Gerard Wain, gynaecological oncologist and director of the NSW cervical screening programme, said Australia's national cervical screening programme had been successful, with the lowest mortality rate worldwide and second-lowest incidence rate after Finland.
But there were problems that needed to be addressed, he said, including the need for more medical and laboratory workers.
And uptake of the vaccine against the virus that causes cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV), could further reduce the need for the current screening programme, he said.
But Dr Greg Robertson, a gynaecological oncologist at Sydney's St George Hospital, said screening intervals should not be changed until doctors could offer women free HPV testing with their regular pap smear.
- AAP
