The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend cervical cancer screenings for women older than 65 with average risk, citing harms outweigh the benefits, but many older women continue to get pap tests anyway, The New York Times reported Dec. 18.
The guidelines specify that women with average risk can stop cervical cancer screenings after age 65 if they have had three consecutive negative pap tests or two consecutive negative HPV tests within the last 10 years. Women who have hysterectomies and no previous precancerous lesions can also forgo screenings.
However, a recent study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found more than 1.3 million women older than 65 still received screening and related services in 2019. The study estimated the Medicare cost at $83.5 million in 2019. Because Medicare records do not include medical histories before age 65, researchers could not determine how many tests were unnecessary.
Older women who receive a Pap or human papillomavirus test dropped from 19 percent in 1999 to 8.5 percent in 2019, researchers found; however, some experts worry over-testing and overtreatment in older adults is still too prevalent.