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Don't Dread the Cervical Smear Test

By Giulia Draycott

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The 'Jade Goody' effect has created a huge rise in demand for cervical screening in 2009. Yet many women still think of the smear test with dread. So what is the cervical screening programme and why should you get screened?

Cervical cancer has been brought to the public eye this year in the saddest of circumstances for Jade Goody and her family. It would have been almost impossible to miss the media attention given to the reality TV star's battle against and death from cervical cancer on 22nd March 2009. But if any good has come from the wall-to-wall coverage given to her illness, it is that awareness of the value of cervical screening has soared, increasing demand for the smear test by as much as 50 percent¹ in some areas.

Why is cervical screening so important?

You're most likely to develop cervical cancer in your 30s. Cervical cancer is the most preventable type of cancer. Even so, it is the UK's second greatest cancer killer of women in their early 30s². Two out of every 100 cases of cancer diagnosed in women are cervical cancer³, with around 2,800 women being diagnosed with cervical cancer every year in the UK.

The NHS cervical screening programme screens almost four million women in England each year⁴. In total, about 8 in 100,000 women still get cervical cancer every year in the UK³. However, early treatment following an abnormal smear result can prevent changes to the cervix from developing into cancer.

What causes cervical cancer

The major cause of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV), which you get through sexual contact. There are more than 100 types of HPV but only 13 types cause cancer. Other forms of HPV are harmless, while some cause genital warts. You can only get HPV if you are sexually active.

Incredibly, as many as 8 out of 10 people in the UK are infected with HPV at some time during their life³, although most of these infections clear up by themselves. The HPV virus can damage cells on the surface of the cervix, leading to changes that, over time, can develop into cervical cancer.

A vaccine is now available against two strains of HPV, which are responsible for over 70 percent of cervical cancer. But because the HPV vaccine does not protect against all forms of cervical cancer, it is still really important even for girls who have been vaccinated to have cervical screening later in life.

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