Age-specific outcomes from the first round of HPV screening in unvaccinated women: Observational study from the English cervical screening pilot

Outcomes associated with large loop excision of the cervical transformation zone in women 60-64 years of age: A population-based register study from Denmark

INTRODUCTION

For women treated for cervical dysplasia at 60-64 years in Denmark, we reported the frequency of abnormalities before and after treatment of cervix uteri (most frequently performed as large loop excision of the cervical transformation zone, LLETZ) using population-based real-world data.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on national data from the Danish Pathology Data Bank and identified women who underwent a LLETZ in 2010-2016 at the age of 60-64. Women were managed according to nationwide evidence-based recommendations proposed by the Danish professional organizations. We retrieved information on all LLETZ specimens, cervical histology, cytology, and human papillomavirus (HPV) tests in the period of 2 years prior to the procedure to 2 years thereafter. We reported the frequencies of abnormalities before, at, or after the procedure.

RESULTS

Of the 1014 women who had a LLETZ during the study period, 660 (65%) showed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 or worse (CIN1+, including CIN1, CIN2, CIN3, cervical cancer, and CIN not otherwise specified) in their LLETZ specimen, with free resection margins in 255 (39%). Of the 1014 women, 551 (54%) had CIN2+ in a biopsy preceding the LLETZ and in 567 (56%) CIN2+ was found in their LLETZ specimen. In 37 (4%) women, the specimen showed cervical cancer; whereas in the pre-LLETZ biopsies of these 37 women, cancer was detected in only 7 (1%). After LLETZ, 818 (81%) women underwent test-of-cure follow-up which was positive in 406 women (40%). Furthermore, 408 (40%) women had new histological samples registered after LLETZ. These showed CIN2+ in 134 (13%) women, whereas a new cancer was diagnosed in 11 (1%) women.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to persistent abnormal tests after LLETZ, an extended follow-up is still required for a large proportion of the women in this age group.

Do Human Papilloma Virus and Cytological Testing Results Before Colposcopy Alter the Pathological Grading of Colposcopy Acetic Acid Visual Examination?: A Retrospective Study

Objective

To understand whether human papillomavirus (HPV) and cytological testing (TCT [ie, "thinprep" cytological testing]) results can provide more information beyond visual information for vaginal colposcopy examinations to upgrade or downgrade the visual diagnosis of vaginal colposcopy.

Patients and Methods

Data from 519 patients, who underwent vaginal colposcopy at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital (Beijing, China) between January and June 2020, were included. Preoperative HPV and TCT results were statistically analyzed, and were divided into 3 groups according to postoperative cervical tissue pathological diagnosis: negative; low-grade squamous intraepithelial (LSIL); and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). Positive and negative predictive values for cervical inflammation, LSIL, and HSIL in patients diagnosed using vaginal colposcopy, based on cervical pathological grouping, and differences in HPV and TCT results among patients who underwent vaginal colposcopy, were analyzed.

Results

The age of patients diagnosed with cervicitis, LSIL, and HSIL using colposcopy gradually decreased, and the proportion of HPV16/18 infection in the HSIL group was significantly higher than the other 2 groups. There were significant differences in TCT results among the groups. According to pathological results from cervical tissue specimens, among all groups diagnosed using colposcopy, the age of the HSIL group was significantly younger than that of the other groups, and the proportion of patients with a TCT greater than LSIL was significantly higher than that of the other groups.

Conclusion

HPV did not provide additional information for vaginal colposcopy. Young(er) patients and those with a TCT greater than LSIL may consider upgrading the vaginal colposcopy diagnosis based on imaging information.

Predictable changes in the accuracy of human papillomavirus tests after vaccination: review with implications for performance monitoring in cervical screening

Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) is changing the performance of cytology as a cervical screening test, but its effect on HPV testing is unclear. We review the effect of HPV16/18 vaccination on the epidemiology and the detection of HPV infections and high-grade cervical lesions (CIN2+) to evaluate the likely direction of changes in HPV test accuracy. The reduction in HPV16/18 infections and cross-protection against certain non-16/18 high-risk genotypes, most notably 31, 33, and/or 45, will likely increase the test's specificity but decrease its positive predictive value (PPV) for CIN2+. Post-vaccination viral unmasking of non-16/18 genotypes due to fewer HPV16 co-infections might reduce the specificity and the PPV for CIN2+. Post-vaccination clinical unmasking exposing a higher frequency of CIN2+ related to non-16/18 high-risk genotypes is likely to increase the specificity and the PPV of HPV tests. The effect of HPV16/18 vaccination on HPV test sensitivity is difficult to predict based on these changes alone. Programmes relying on HPV detection for primary screening should monitor the frequency of false-positive and false-negative tests in vaccinated (younger) vs. unvaccinated (older) cohorts, to assess the outcomes and performance of their service.

A comparison of the carbon footprint of alternative sampling approaches for cervical screening in the UK: A descriptive study

OBJECTIVE

To understand whether self-sampling can reduce carbon emissions (CO2 e) from the NHS cervical screening programme (NHSCSP) by comparing the carbon footprint of three sampling strategies: routine cervical sampling, vaginal self-sampling and first-void (FV) urine collection.

DESIGN

Descriptive study.

SETTING

National Health Service (NHS), United Kingdom (UK).

POPULATION OR SAMPLE

Patients aged 25-64 years eligible for cervical screening in the UK.

METHODS

A carbon footprint analysis was undertaken for three cervical screening sampling approaches, from point of invitation to screening through to preparation for transport to the laboratory for HPV testing. A combination of primary and secondary data were used, with a bottom-up approach applied to collection of primary data.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

We report CO2 e per sampling approach, which is the unit used to express carbon footprint and harmonise the contributions of greenhouse gases with different global warming potentials.

RESULTS

The total carbon footprint of routine cervical sampling is 3670 g CO2 e. By comparison, vaginal self-sampling had a total carbon footprint of 423 g CO2 e, and FV urine sampling 570 g CO2 e. The largest share of emissions for routine sampling was attributable to the carbon footprint associated with an appointment in a primary care setting, which totalled 2768 g CO2 e.

CONCLUSIONS

Routine cervical sampling is up to 8.7-fold more carbon-intensive than self-sampling approaches with equivalent effectiveness. We found negligible differences in the carbon footprint of alternative self-sampling methods, supporting the need for an informed choice of screening options for participants, which includes sharing information on their environmental impacts.

Staged design recommendations for validating relative sensitivity of self-sample human papillomavirus tests for cervical screening

OBJECTIVES

To ensure that the emerging methods for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing on self-collected samples in cervical screening are evaluated robustly.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

We assess paired study designs for relative sensitivity of self-collected vs. traditional clinician-collected samples in detection of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

RESULTS

Designs considered are (D1) both samples at screening, with clinical actions triggered by HPV positivity; (D2) offering a self-sample test to clinician-collected HPV-positive women; (D3) as D2 but using a repeat clinician-sample as comparator; (D4) offering a choice of self- vs. clinician-sampling, and the alternative test in HPV-positive women; (D5) paired samples at referral appointment. D1 is simple to analyze but requires the largest sample size and referral of self-sample positive, clinician-sample negative women. D2 requires a much smaller sample size, and no change to clinical practice, and could be used to rule-in a test because estimates are conservative (against self-sampling). D3 mitigates this bias but requires a second clinician sample. D4 is only manageable where self-sampling already occurs. The liberal D5 might be used to rule-out a self-sampling test.

CONCLUSION

A universal recommendation for an optimal study design is challenging. Staged validation might be useful with D5 as a gatekeeper for D1-D4.

Managing an extension of screening intervals: Avoiding boom and bust in health care workloads

Extending screening intervals in ongoing cancer screening programmes can lead to challenging year-on-year variations in the number of screening tests. We explored how such variation could be diminished with a managed transition to the extended interval. We defined three extension scenarios: immediate extension for the entire target population; stepped transition by birth cohort; and gradual transition by reducing the number of available screening appointments. These were compared to a situation in which the interval remains unchanged in a demographic model covering a 15-year period. The model was populated with observed parameters from England, a real-world setting recommending cervical screening with 3-year intervals at age 25-49 and 5-year intervals at age 50-64. Informed by typical changes currently considered by several European programmes including the programme in England, we explored the effect on screening test numbers of an extension of the 3-year interval to 5 years for women younger than 50. All three extension scenarios resulted in similar cumulative numbers of screening tests, which were about 30% lower compared to a situation in which the interval would remain unchanged. However, the year-on-year variation in the number of screening tests varied between the scenarios. This variation was around 4-fold for the immediate scenario. In the stepped scenario, the yearly numbers could differ by around 20%, whereas in the gradual scenario they were virtually constant. A managed interval extension, transitioning different groups of the target population at different times, can substantially reduce the yearly variation in screening workload without increasing the total number of screening tests in the long term.

Cervical Cancer Screening with DNA-HPV Testing and Precancerous Lesions Detection: A Brazilian Population-based Demonstration Study

OBJECTIVE

 To evaluate the rates of precancerous lesions, colposcopy referral, and positive predictive value (PPV) by age groups of a population-based screening with DNA-HPV testing.

METHODS

 The present demonstration study compared 16,384 HPV tests performed in the first 30 months of the program with 19,992 women tested in the cytology screening. The colposcopy referral rate and PPV for CIN2+ and CIN3+ by age group and screening program were compared. The statistical analysis used the chi-squared test and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI).

RESULTS

 The HPV tests were 3.26% positive for HPV16-HPV18 and 9.92% positive for 12 other HPVs with a 3.7 times higher colposcopy referral rate than the cytology program, which had 1.68% abnormalities. Human Papillomavirus testing detected 103 CIN2, 89 CIN3, and one AIS, compared with 24 CIN2 and 54 CIN3 detected by cytology (p < 0.0001). The age group between 25 and 29 years old screened by HPV testing had 2.4 to 3.0 times more positivity, 13.0% colposcopy referral, twice more than women aged 30 to 39 years old (7.7%; p < 0.0001), and detected 20 CIN3 and 3 early-stage cancer versus 9 CIN3 and no cancer by cytology screening (CIN3 OR= 2.10; 95%CI: 0.91-5.25; p = 0.043). The PPV of colposcopy for CIN2+ ranged from 29.5 to 41.0% in the HPV testing program.

CONCLUSION

 There was a significant increase in detections of cervix precancerous lesions in a short period of screening with HPV testing. In women < 30 years old, the HPV testing exhibited more positivity, high colposcopy referral rate, similar colposcopy PPV to older women, and more detection of HSIL and early-stage cervical cancer.

Supporting the implementation of new healthcare technologies by investigating generalisability of pilot studies using area-level statistics

BACKGROUND

Implementation of new technologies into national health care systems requires careful capacity planning. This is sometimes informed by data from pilot studies that implement the technology on a small scale in selected areas. A critical consideration when using implementation pilot studies for capacity planning in the wider system is generalisability. We studied the feasibility of using publicly available national statistics to determine the degree to which results from a pilot might generalise for non-pilot areas, using the English human papillomavirus (HPV) cervical screening pilot as an exemplar.

METHODS

From a publicly available source on population indicators in England ("Public Health Profiles"), we selected seven area-level indicators associated with cervical cancer incidence, to produce a framework for post-hoc pilot generalisability analysis. We supplemented these data by those from publicly available English Office for National Statistics modules. We compared pilot to non-pilot areas, and pilot regimens (pilot areas using the previous standard of care (cytology) vs. the new screening test (HPV)). For typical process indicators that inform real-world capacity planning in cancer screening, we used standardisation to re-weight the values directly observed in the pilot, to better reflect the wider population. A non-parametric quantile bootstrap was used to calculate 95% confidence intervals (CI) for differences in area-weighted means for indicators.

RESULTS

The range of area-level statistics in pilot areas covered most of the spectrum observed in the wider population. Pilot areas were on average more deprived than non-pilot areas (average index of multiple deprivation 24.8 vs. 21.3; difference: 3.4, 95% CI: 0.2-6.6). Participants in HPV pilot areas were less deprived than those in cytology pilot areas, matching area-level statistics. Differences in average values of the other six indicators were less pronounced. The observed screening process indicators showed minimal change after standardisation for deprivation.

CONCLUSIONS

National statistical sources can be helpful in establishing the degree to which the types of areas outside pilot studies are represented, and the extent to which they match selected characteristics of the rest of the health care system ex-post. Our analysis lends support to extrapolation of process indicators from the HPV screening pilot across England.

A clinician’s dilemma: what should be communicated to women with oncogenic genital HPV and their partners regarding the risk of oral viral transmission?

Head and neck cancer, the sixth most common cancer worldwide, account for about 1 out of 20 malignant tumors. In recent years a reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer, but a concomitant major increase in the incidence of HPV-mediated oropharyngeal cancer caused by orogenital HPV transmission has been observed. Consequently, in wealthy countries oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinomas (OPSCC) is now the most frequent HPV-related cancer, having overtaken cervical cancer. Without effective medical interventions, this incidence trend could continue for decades. As no specific precursor lesion has been consistently identified in the oral cavity and oropharynx, HPV vaccination is the logical intervention to successfully counteract also the rising incidence of OPSCCs. However, HPV vaccine uptake remains suboptimal, particularly in males, the population at higher risk of OPSCC. Alternative primary prevention measures, such as modifications in sexual behaviors, could be implemented based on knowledge of individual genital HPV status. Until recently, this information was not available at a population level, but the current gradual shift from cytology (Pap test) to primary HPV testing for cervical cancer screening is revealing the presence of oncogenic viral genotypes in millions of women. In the past, health authorities and professional organizations have not consistently recommended modifications in sexual behaviors to be adopted when a persistent high-risk HPV cervicovaginal infection was identified. However, given the above changing epidemiologic scenario and the recent availability of an immense amount of novel information on genital HPV infection, it is unclear whether patient counseling should change. The right of future partners to be informed of the risk could also be considered. However, any modification of the provided counseling should be based also on the actual likelihood of a beneficial effect on the incidence of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers. The risk is on one side to induce unjustified anxiety and provide ineffective instructions, on the other side to miss the opportunity to limit the spread of oral HPV infections. Thus, major health authorities and international gynecologic scientific societies should issue or update specific recommendations, also with the aim of preventing inconsistent health care professionals’ behaviors.