Cervical Smears for ages 20 to 25 years

Information for patients aged 20- 25 years

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme was set up by the Department of Health in 1988. This screens over 3.5 million women in England every year. In April 2006 there were changes to the Cervical Screening Programme, which means that women under the age of 25 are no longer screened, Women between the ages of 25 - 49 are screened three yearly and from 50 - 64, five yearly.

What is cervical screening?

Cervical screening is a method of preventing cancer by detecting abnormalities in the cells of the cervix that, if left untreated, could lead to cancer. Regular screening is one of the most effective ways of detecting abnormalities. There has recently been a change in the way that we take smears and we now use a liquid-based cytology which has a much higher accuracy rate. In the NHS at present women can expect to receive the result of this cervical screen between 6 and 10 weeks after their appointment. Following an abnormal result a woman would receive information regarding this and may be recommended to have a further test after a short interval or maybe referred for further treatment such as colposcopy.

Ideally cervical screening should be done in or around the middle of your menstrual cycle, with Day 1 counted as the first day of your last period. If you have an appointment arranged and you start your period early, you should contact us to re-arrange for a more suitable date.

Why screen women only from the age of 25?

The NHS Cervical Screening Programme has recently changed so that women under 25 are no longer screened. Cervical cancer is rare in women under 25. In England and Wales you would expect only 40 cases of cervical cancer in this group each year. In this group of women changes in the cervix are common. Sexually active women under the age of 25 are quite likely to have cellular changes that are transient and there is no benefit from having transient changes detected or treated.
Cancer of the cervix is very rare under the age of 25 and it is not certain whether screening can prevent the rare cases of cancer in these women. There has been extensive national debate about this group of women in particular and the current opinion is that it is unreasonable to recommend screening for women under the age of 25. Screening in women under 25 results in tens of thousands of young women having minor abnormalities picked up on their screening test and many having unnecessary intense anxiety. It is not possible to define accurately an individual’s risk based on factors such as cigarette smoking, oral contraceptive use or sexual history although these are recognised risk factors for cervical cancer and therefore starting age of 25 applies to all women.

If you are under 25 we will not recommend a smear for you, however we may agree to do one for you if we believe that you are fully informed about the value of the procedure. If you have a smear, we would expect to have your result within three days.

Key Statistics

Cervical screening saves approximately 5,000 lives a year

The Cervical Screening Programme is directly responsible for a 42% decrease in incidence of cervical cancer between 1988 and 1997

Cervical screening is one of the best defences against cervical cancer and can prevent around 75%of cancer cases in women who attend regularly

Almost half of the 3,500 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK occur in women who have never attended for screening.

Revised August 2006