When I was in medical school (not THAT long ago), there was no question about when women should get Pap smears. We knew that this valuable test to screen for cervical cancer saved lives, and every woman should be tested at her annual exams. Subsequently, we learned that all cervical cancer comes from HPV- the Human Papilloma Virus, which is transmitted by intimate skin-to-skin contact, primarily through sex. With that knowledge, we modified the Pap requirements to only those women who had become sexually active.
Now we know that the majority of HPV infections occur upon initiation of sexual activity, and that most of these infections are cleared by the immune system within a couple years, and do not result in cancerous changes. We also realize that invasive cervical cancer is very rare in women younger than 21, and so the current guidelines tell us that women should start having Pap smears when they turn 21 (and have had intimate relations.)
Happily, we also have vaccines to help our immune systems fight off the HPV more effectively, so with Gardasil and Cevarix immunizations, we should be seeing even less cervical cancer!
What if you are over 21? Women aged 21-29 without high risk factors (HIV, organ transplant patients, DES exposure or previous abnormal Pap smears that showed early cancerous changes) should get screening Pap tests every other year in their twenties, and every third year beyond their 30's.
Women over 30 will be tested with both the traditional Pap test and a specific test that checks for the strains of HPV that cause cancer. If you test positive for these high risk strains, your screening will be more frequent (annually.)
When can we STOP? By 70, if you have had a decade of normal results, you are done. Yea!
BOTTOM LINE: Pap tests do not need to be an automatic part of your annual pelvic exam- but YOU STILL NEED ANNUAL PELVIC EXAMS to check for sexually transmitted diseases and other gynecologic concerns (ovaries, etc.)
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