HPV Testing Versus Cytology for Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women 50 Years and Older: Evidence From the HPV FOCAL Randomized Controlled Trial
Md Saiful Alam, Laurie W Smith, Lovedeep Gondara, Darrel Cook, Ruth Elwood Martin, Stuart Peacock, Lily Proctor, Gavin Stuart, David Patrick, Eduardo L Franco, Mel Krajden, Anna Gottschlich, Gina S Ogilvie · 2026
Read HPV Testing Versus Cytology for Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women 50 Years and Older: Evidence From the HPV FOCAL Randomized Controlled Trial by Md Saiful Alam, Laurie W Smith, Lovedeep Gondara, Darrel Cook, Ruth Elwood Martin, Stuart Peacock, Lily Proctor, Gavin Stuart, David Patrick, Eduardo L Franco, Mel Krajden, Anna Gottschlich, Gina S Ogilvie (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13495925.txt.
Description
Md Saiful Alam and colleagues report in 2026 on cervical screening for women aged 50 and older, using data from the HPV FOCAL trial. Participants received either a test for human papillomavirus, a virus linked to cervical cancer, or standard cytology, which checks cell changes under a microscope. The question was which approach finds serious precancer changes more reliably near the age when screening often stops.
The analysis covered 6,471 women, split almost evenly between the two methods, with joint testing at a 48-month exit visit. Women who tested negative for the virus at the start later showed fewer serious lesions, and fewer cases were missed than with cytology. Adjusted results also favoured virus testing, supporting its use for this age group.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Md Saiful Alam, Laurie W Smith, Lovedeep Gondara, Darrel Cook, Ruth Elwood Martin, Stuart Peacock, Lily Proctor, Gavin Stuart, David Patrick, Eduardo L Franco, Mel Krajden, Anna Gottschlich, Gina S Ogilvie |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 35646 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |