I’d urge every woman to do her reading and make an informed decision about the need for and value of these exams. Pap tests are never compulsory, never! The pap test like any other cancer screening test has risks and benefits and legally and ethically requires your informed consent. Fewer than 1% of women benefit from pap tests (0.65%) according to American pathologist, Richard DeMay – 0.35% get false negatives and may be disadvantaged by testing and 99% derive no benefit at all. (I’ve seen figures even less impressive – in Australia the lifetime risk of cervical cancer is 0.65% and around 0.45% benefit from smears)
Look at your risk profile before deciding to have pap tests. The Finnish program provides some protection from false positives – they offer 5 yearly screening from age 30, 5 to 7 tests in total. They have the lowest rates of cc in the world and send the fewest women for colposcopy/biopsies. (fewer false positives) Annual and biannual testing is over-testing and produces very high rates of false positives and over-treatment. Annual will send 95% of women at some point for colposcopy/biopsies – Two yearly – 78%
Three yearly – 65% Five yearly – still high at 35%-55% (depending on the research) Almost all referrals are false positives.
Women under 25 (some say 30) do not benefit from testing, but produce very high rates of false positives. CC in this group is VERY rare and rare in all age groups. The tiny death rate from cc in young women remains the same whether you screen or not.
It’s important to do your reading and control your healthcare – unnecessary treatments and biopsies to the cervix can cause damage and lead to infertility, miscarriages, high risk pregnancy, premature babies, more c-sections and psych issues.
The use of stirrups is another disturbing feature of your system – they are not used in consult situations in this country. (or the UK)
Dr Joel Sherman’s medical privacy forum is a wealth of information – see under women’s privacy issues the articles listed in the side bar. I’d recommend the Richard DeMay article and research by Angela Raffle. (1000 women need regular screening for 35 years to save ONE woman from cc (BMJ;2003) Commentary: “Why I’ll never have another smear test” by Anna Saybourn (online) There are also lots of articles by Heather Dixon and others on the real value of these well-woman exams and the unethical practice of doctors holding BC hostage…
Once informed you’re better able to protect yourself from harm and to control every consultation. IMO, doctors are careful and respectful when faced with an informed woman.
Those exams are NOT clinically required for the Pill… I should add women not yet sexually active are excluded from testing in other countries, guidelines calling for ALL women to test from 21, that is BAD medical advice.
Also, women who’ve had complete hysterectomies for benign conditions should be excluded from testing. One other group often overlooked – women in lifetime mutually monogamous relationships are most unlikely to benefit from testing – their risk of cc is near zero.
Whether you’re low or high risk, the risk from this cancer is very small and tiny for low risk women – it is your decision whether you screen and if you do, avoid over-screening and early screening.
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I’d urge every woman to do her reading and make an informed decision about the need for and value of these exams. Pap tests are never compulsory, never! The pap test like any other cancer screening test has risks and benefits and legally and ethically requires your informed consent. Fewer than 1% of women benefit from pap tests (0.65%) according to American pathologist, Richard DeMay – 0.35% get false negatives and may be disadvantaged by testing and 99% derive no benefit at all. (I’ve seen figures even less impressive – in Australia the lifetime risk of cervical cancer is 0.65% and around 0.45% benefit from smears)
Look at your risk profile before deciding to have pap tests. The Finnish program provides some protection from false positives – they offer 5 yearly screening from age 30, 5 to 7 tests in total. They have the lowest rates of cc in the world and send the fewest women for colposcopy/biopsies. (fewer false positives) Annual and biannual testing is over-testing and produces very high rates of false positives and over-treatment. Annual will send 95% of women at some point for colposcopy/biopsies – Two yearly – 78%
Three yearly – 65% Five yearly – still high at 35%-55% (depending on the research) Almost all referrals are false positives.
Women under 25 (some say 30) do not benefit from testing, but produce very high rates of false positives. CC in this group is VERY rare and rare in all age groups. The tiny death rate from cc in young women remains the same whether you screen or not.
It’s important to do your reading and control your healthcare – unnecessary treatments and biopsies to the cervix can cause damage and lead to infertility, miscarriages, high risk pregnancy, premature babies, more c-sections and psych issues.
The use of stirrups is another disturbing feature of your system – they are not used in consult situations in this country. (or the UK)
Dr Joel Sherman’s medical privacy forum is a wealth of information – see under women’s privacy issues the articles listed in the side bar. I’d recommend the Richard DeMay article and research by Angela Raffle. (1000 women need regular screening for 35 years to save ONE woman from cc (BMJ;2003) Commentary: “Why I’ll never have another smear test” by Anna Saybourn (online) There are also lots of articles by Heather Dixon and others on the real value of these well-woman exams and the unethical practice of doctors holding BC hostage…
Once informed you’re better able to protect yourself from harm and to control every consultation. IMO, doctors are careful and respectful when faced with an informed woman.
Those exams are NOT clinically required for the Pill… I should add women not yet sexually active are excluded from testing in other countries, guidelines calling for ALL women to test from 21, that is BAD medical advice.
May 24, 2011 - 7:31amAlso, women who’ve had complete hysterectomies for benign conditions should be excluded from testing. One other group often overlooked – women in lifetime mutually monogamous relationships are most unlikely to benefit from testing – their risk of cc is near zero.
Whether you’re low or high risk, the risk from this cancer is very small and tiny for low risk women – it is your decision whether you screen and if you do, avoid over-screening and early screening.
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