With the adoption of cotesting—human papillomavirus (HPV) plus Pap cytology—cervical cancer screening methodology has focused primarily on the preferred frequency of combined testing. However, a new study, published Nov. 1 in The Lancet Oncology, is re-examining the recommended age of last cervical cancer screening. The Canadian study concludes age at last cervical cancer screening depends on the type of test used. With cytology,  lifetime cervical cancer risk reduction might be achieved by screening up to age 75 years, rather than age 65 years as is currently recommended in the United States. However, a single negative exit HPV test at age 55 years provides “strong reassurance” and indicates a very low remaining lifetime risk of cervical cancer. “The introduction of a test with a higher sensitivity and longer lead time should necessarily drive the establishment of a lower stopping age than for the Pap test,” writes Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Ph.D., from the epidemiology unit at Azienda Unità Sanitaria Localein in Italy, in an accompanying editorial. Cervical cancer incidence and mortality remain high in older, unvaccinated women and may actually be underestimated because women who have had a total hysterectomy are no longer at risk for cervical cancer, but are generally not […]