About 12 percent of those who received a self-sampling kit in the mail returned the self-sample
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Aug. 4, 2025 (HealthDay News) — In-person offers of self-sampling cervical cancer screening kits are most effective, according to a study published online July 29 in eClinicalMedicine.
Anita W.W. Lim, Ph.D., from the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial offering self-sampling for cervical screening. General practitioner (GP) practices were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to flagging women at least six months overdue for cervical screening so that they could be offered a self-sampling kit if they visited their GP for any other reason or not to receive an opportunistic offer (6,080 and 6,577 women, respectively). In addition, never-screened women and those overdue by 15 or 27 months were randomly assigned to usual care (no systematic offer), a letter inviting them to order a kit (LETTER), or being sent a self-sampling kit (KIT) in a 2:1:1 ratio.
The researchers found that 5.6 percent of women in opportunistic offer practices returned a self-sample, compared with 1.9 percent in practices not randomly assigned to opportunistic offering (adjusted risk difference, 4.4 percent). Half (234 of 449) of those offered self-sampling opportunistically returned a sample. Of the 6,400 women randomly assigned to no systematic offer versus LETTER versus KIT, 1.7, 4.8, and 12.3 percent, respectively, returned a self-sample. In the secondary outcome of any cervical cancer screening, these observed differences were maintained. There were no reports of adverse events.
“This study reinforces that many women welcome the option — particularly when it’s offered in person by a trusted health care professional,” Lim said in a statement. “A simple change like this could have a major impact on preventing cervical cancer.”
In-kind support from Copan Italia S.p.A was provided in the form of provision of the 552C.80 FLOQSwab for the study.
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