Primary cervical cancer screening by self-sampling of human papillomavirus DNA in internal medicine outpatient clinics

Background: We determined whether testing of self-collected vaginal swabs for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA can be used to screen for cervical disease within internal medicine outpatient clinics. Patients and methods: In this prospective study, 560 patients visiting two referral outpatient clinics for internal medicine were asked to take an HPV self-sample. Acceptability of self sampling, HPV prevalence and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) detection rate were evaluated. Results: 435 women (78%) performed HPV self-sampling; 1.5% considered self-sampling to be difficult. 134 women (31%) tested positive for high-risk type of HPV. There were significant differences between HPV-positive and -negative women with respect to the following: mean age (42 versus 46 years), number of women aged