Terviseportaal
26,000 women can do a HPV test at home as part of cervical cancer screening
Starting this week, the National Institute for Health Development and the Estonian Health Insurance Fund will launch a pilot study offering some women in the target group for cervical cancer screening the opportunity to perform a HPV test at home. The impact of the additional testing method will be studied with a view to increasing participation in screening in order to improve cervical cancer prevention in women.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. For early detection of the cancer-causing virus, women between the ages of 30 and 65 are invited to be tested for HPV every five years. However, less than half of those invited participate in the screening and ca 150 women get cervical cancer in Estonia every year.
The results of the pilot study help determine whether self-testing can be used in the future as part of routine screening in Estonia and in which way self-testing works best.
26,000 Estonian women in the target group for this year's cervical cancer screening, who have not participated in the screening this year, are randomly selected and invited to participate. They are reminded of the need to participate in the screening, either by scheduling an appointment at a healthcare facility or trying a novel at-home HPV testing method. The women, in turn, are randomly assigned to two groups. One group will be sent a sampling kit home and the other group will be offered the opportunity to order it free of charge via an online ordering environment.
The preliminary results of the pilot study will be published in the first quarter of next year.
In 2021, women born in 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986 and 1991 are invited to take part in routine cervical cancer screening. All women in the target group are welcome to participate in screening for the prevention and early detection of serious illness. All women born in these years can participate in the screening, regardless of whether they have health insurance or an invitation.