RICHMOND, Va. β The American Cancer Society says women can now collect their own HPV test samples at home as screening rates have dropped nationwide.
The self-collected specimens can be mailed to a lab or brought to a doctor's office. Women using this method would need to test every three years instead of every five.
The change comes as screening rates have dropped significantly.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found screening fell six percentage points between 2019 and 2023.
The Cancer Society hopes the at-home option will get more women screened.
"This has been under study for a few years now. For some places I've been, for example rural Indian reservations, they had been doing this because it was an easier way for women, who might have difficulty getting to a clinic, to get tested," Dr. Celine Gounder, with KFF Health News, saud.
According to the CDC, every year in the U.S. there are about 13,000 new cases of cervical cancer, and about 4,000 women die from the disease.
The updated ACS recommendation also says women with consecutive negative tests can stop screening at 65 years old.
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