Background: We determined whether testing of self-collected vaginal swabs for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA can be used to screen for cervical disease within internal medicine outpatient clinics.
Patients and methods: In this prospective study, 560 patients visiting two referral outpatient clinics for internal medicine were asked to take an HPV self-sample. Acceptability of self sampling, HPV prevalence and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) detection rate were evaluated.
Results: 435 women (78%) performed HPV self-sampling; 1.5% considered self-sampling to be difficult. 134 women (31%) tested positive for high-risk type of HPV. There were significant differences between HPV-positive and -negative women with respect to the following: mean age (42 versus 46 years), number of women aged <16 years at first coitus (35% versus 23%) and history of drug abuse (8.3% versus 2.6%). Colposcopy could be performed for 70 HPV positive women: CIN 1-3 was identified in 24%. Two of 52 women with HPV-negative results undergoing colposcopy had biopsy-confirmed CIN 1. Test performance for detection of CIN 2-3 after correction for verification bias: sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 71%; negative predictive value, 100%; positive predictive value, 10%. HPV persistence was associated with a 5.7-fold risk of CIN 2-3 detection at follow-up.
Conclusions: Self-assessment for HPV DNA is an easy, feasible and well-accepted method for HPV testing and for cervical cancer screening in internal medicine outpatient clinics.