Two self-sampling strategies for HPV primary cervical cancer screening compared with clinician-collected sampling: an economic evaluation
Huntington et al.
The finding, in our words
First-void urine self-sampling for HPV screening cost £38.57 per complete screen compared with £56.81 for clinician-collected samples, with potential NHS savings of £19.2 million annually if uptake improved among non-attenders. This shows self-sampling is substantially cheaper and could expand screening reach to under-screened women, supporting decentralised diagnostic programmes.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Routine clinic-based cervical sampling generated 3670 g CO2e per sample, whereas vaginal self-sampling produced 423 g CO2e and first-void urine collection produced 570 g CO2e. Decentralised self-collection approaches substantially lowered emissions by eliminating primary care clinic visits.
Whittaker et al., BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology (paywalled) · source ↗
This meta-analysis found that HPV testing using self-collected vaginal and urine samples showed sensitivities of 88.6% and 81% for detecting cervical precancer. Using a standardised device for first-void urine increased sensitivity to 86.6%, supporting decentralised patient-centric screening, though data on specificity and specific commercial devices were not consistently reported.
Hsiao et al., The journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research (paywalled) · source ↗
A study of 2500 women found 99.0% agreement between first-void urine and vaginal self-sampling for HPV detection using Cobas4800, with 98.1% of participants preferring urine. Although conducted in a resource-limited setting which may limit generalisability, these results support urine as a viable sample type for decentralised, patient-centric screening.
This study found that self-collected vaginal swabs and first-void urine yielded comparable detection rates for vaccine-targeted high-risk HPV types, supporting the use of both patient-centric methods for decentralised surveillance. Vaginal swabs showed higher sensitivity for non-vaccine types, whereas urine sampling offers a non-invasive alternative.
First-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs showed similar sensitivity and specificity to clinician-collected cervical samples for high-risk HPV detection across two real-time PCR assays, supporting their use as decentralised, patient-collected alternatives; most women preferred first-void urine for regular cervical screening.
A et al., Journal of gynecologic oncology (paywalled) · source ↗