Age-specific clinical performance of HPV-based vs. cytology-based cervical cancer screening in China.

ABSTRACT: Cervical cancer remains a significant health burden, and effective screening is essential, yet the age-specific performance of HPV primary screening is rarely studied. This multicenter study evaluates age-specific performance of primary human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as cross-sectional and longitudinal screening for cervical cancer among 28,501 Chinese women. At baseline, HPV screening with cytology triage demonstrates higher sensitivity (96.9% vs. 79.7%) but slightly lower specificity (88.8% vs. 92.7%) than cytology with HPV triage for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+). HPV sensitivities remain high across age groups (≤35: 100.0%; 36-45: 96.4%; >45: 96.8%), consistently exceeding the corresponding cytology sensitivities (66.7%, 75.7%, and 84.9%). Over a three

SUBMITTER: Yin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12804866 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature