Recently, a large-scale medical study completed in Hubei Province, China, showed that women collected menstrual blood at home for HPV testing, and its screening effect on cervical precancerous lesions was comparable to the current clinician sampling method in hospitals. This discovery provides a new path for cervical cancer screening to be more convenient and private.
HPV testing is a key screening method for preventing cervical cancer. However, traditional sampling methods that require clinicians often affect the participation of some women due to inconvenience, psychological concerns, or cultural factors. To this end, the research team explored a more feasible method of self-sampling. The study was conducted in many places in Hubei Province, and thousands of women underwent menstrual blood HPV testing, clinician sampling HPV testing, and cervical cytology at the same time. Those with abnormal results were confirmed by colposcopic biopsy. The results of the analysis showed that the ability of menstrual blood HPV testing to identify high-grade cervical lesions was highly similar to clinician sampling methods. Both methods exhibited extremely high sensitivity and negative predictive values, implying a very low risk of missed diagnosis. Although there were slight differences, the overall screening efficiency was comparable. The study further confirmed that the self-sampling method met the internationally recognized non-inferiority standard. The HPV genotype it detected was also highly consistent with the clinical sampling results. At the same time, research experts also pointed out that it is still necessary to optimize relevant processes and accumulate more practical application data in the future. Content source: Tian X, Cao C, Wang L, et al Testing menstrual blood for human papillomavirus during cervical cancer screening in China: cross sectional population based study. BMJ. 2026; 392:e084831. Published 2026 Feb 4. doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-084831
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