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REVIEW

Cytology and cervical cancer surveillance in an era of human papillomavirus vaccination

Alison C. Budd A B and Christine J. Sturrock A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Cancer and Screening Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: alison.budd@aihw.gov.au

Sexual Health 7(3) 328-334 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH09133
Submitted: 1 December 2009  Accepted: 28 May 2010   Published: 19 August 2010

Abstract

Cytological and cancer surveillance will provide the most effective indications of short-term effects and long-term outcomes of the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Australia. This article outlines how this surveillance is proposed to occur through the established national monitoring mechanisms of the National Cervical Screening Program in the annual Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) publication ‘Cervical screening in Australia’. Cytological surveillance will be possible principally through cytology data provided annually by the state and territory cervical cytology registers, and it is expected that these data will provide the earliest and most comprehensive indications of effects from the HPV vaccine. Some potential issues in interpreting these data are also discussed, including the potentially confounding effects of the introduction of new National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines ‘Screening to prevent cervical cancer: guidelines for the management of asymptomatic women with screen-detected abnormalities’ some 9 months before the introduction of the vaccine. Cancer surveillance over the long term will be possible using cervical cancer incidence data reported annually for the National Cervical Screening Program in ‘Cervical screening in Australia’ using data sourced from the Australian Cancer Database. In a final discourse, the HPV vaccine and cervical screening are discussed concurrently, and the importance of continued cervical screening in the HPV vaccine era emphasised.

Additional keywords: Australia, HPV, monitoring, Pap test, screening.


Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the Screening Section of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for support and funding which allow AIHW to monitor the National Cervical Screening Program, as well as state and territory cervical screening programs for expert advice and data. In addition, special thanks are extended to Lucas Mills for his contribution to this manuscript.


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