CareHPV Cervical Cancer Screening Demonstration in a Rural Population of North India

Objective: To compare cervical careHPV screening in a rural community setting with other methods of cervical screening for the detection of high-grade cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Study Design: Cross-sectional study. All ever-married women aged 30-59 years surveyed in an administrative area of Uttar Pradesh, India were targeted for screening by careHPV (cervical and vaginal samples), Pap test and visual inspection of the cervix following application of acetic acid (VIA). Women who screened positive were referred for colposcopy and the results were confirmed histologically. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values for the detection of histological CINII+ and CINIII+ were assessed for each screening test.

Results: Sixty-five percent (5032/7704) of the women invited for cervical screening agreed to participate in the study. Screen-positive rates for cervical careHPV, vaginal careHPV, Pap test and VIA were 3%, 2%, 3% and 6%, respectively. Data for women who did not complete all screening modes, women lost to follow-up and women with missing histological results were excluded before data analysis, resulting in a final sample size of 4658. Cervical careHPV had high sensitivity (85%) for the detection of CINIII+ lesions and moderate sensitivity (53%) for the detection of CINII+ lesions. Sensitivities for the detection of CINIII+ and CINII+ were 54% and 41% for vaginal careHPV, 62% and 44% for Pap test, and 8% and 22% for VIA, respectively.

Conclusion: Cervical careHPV testing is superior to VIA and Pap test for the detection of high-grade CIN in a rural community setting.