US cervical cancer screening rates have risen, but disparities remain, new data show
Meghan HolohanToday at 1:20 p.m.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
Since the 1970s, cervical cancer deaths in the United States have plummeted by more than half, thanks in part to screening, according to the American Cancer Society. Still, about 13,000 women receive new cervical cancer diagnoses annually—and about 4,000 of them die.
Understanding cervical cancer screening (CCS) uptake trends can help doctors reach more patients and reduce the number of deaths. From 2019 to 2024, rates of CCS increased overall, but there were differences among the groups screened, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open.
“All CCS rates increased across all racial and ethnic groups from 2019 to 2024, with the greatest gains observed among Hispanic patients,” wrote the authors, from the University of Texas at Houston. “However, persistent disparities remained.”
Race, age, region are influencing factors
In a retrospective cross-sectional study using data from an electronic medical records database, the researchers looked at women aged 21 to 64 without a history of cervical cancer who underwent CCS and had at least one clinical encounter from 2019 to 2024. The number of women included in each year ranged from 9 million to 16 million.White women had the highest annual CCS rates but also the smallest gains in screening, rising only from 11.0% to 13.9% throughout the study. Hispanic women experienced the biggest boost in CCS, increasing from 9.9% to 15.5%. American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women underwent CCS less often than other racial groups in every year of the study.
Age also influenced CCS, with women aged 30 to 49 undergoing it most regularly. Women who lived in the western and southern United States were screened less frequently than those who lived in other areas of the country. Across ethnic, racial, and age groups, CCS rates dipped from 2020 to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic but bounced back.
“The observed increase in screening among Hispanic populations by 2023 may reflect multiple factors, including changes in awareness, engagement, access to care, or ongoing community-based efforts; however, the current descriptive analysis cannot determine the drivers of these trends,” the authors said.
“These findings highlight the importance of further research to better understand factors associated with improvements in screening uptake and persistent disparities among other groups,” they added.