Juni Palmgren

Preventive screening against cervical cancer has greatly reduced the incidence of the disease in Sweden and many other high-income countries. The test used so far is soon replaced by one that identifies human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. For almost 10 years, vaccines have been available in Sweden that protect against the most serious forms of HPV. It is mainly women aged 10-18 who have been vaccinated and these will enter the screening program in a few years. The new screening program needs to be optimized both for those who are HPV-vaccinated and for those who are not. The aim of the research project is to investigate how this process is affected by the conventional cytological screening, the new screening for finding HPV and by HPV vaccination, by means of a quantitative dynamic simulation model for the cervical cancer development process. We intend to evaluate and optimize screening for cervical cancer for women who are HPV-vaccinated and women who are not HPV-vaccinated by:    • Examine at what age the screening should start • Calculate optimal screening intervals for women of different ages We will be able to predict, plan and evaluate the costs and benefits of various strategies to prevent cervical cancer and recommend how to coordinate HPV vaccination and screening in order to prevent as much disease and death in cervical cancer as possible. The results will be in support of healthcare professionals and community planners and individual women will almost immediately benefit from improvements in the cervical cancer screening program.

Preventive screening against cervical cancer has greatly reduced the incidence of the disease in Sweden and many other high-income countries. The test used so far is soon replaced by one that identifies human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. For almost 10 years, vaccines have been available in Sweden that protect against the most serious forms of HPV. It is mainly women aged 10-18 who have been vaccinated and these will enter the screening program in a few years. The new screening program needs to be optimized both for those who are HPV-vaccinated and for those who are not. The aim of the research project is to investigate how this process is affected by the conventional cytological screening, the new screening for finding HPV and by HPV vaccination, by means of a quantitative dynamic simulation model for the cervical cancer development process. We intend to evaluate and optimize screening for cervical cancer for women who are HPV-vaccinated and women who are not HPV-vaccinated by:   • Examine at what age the screening should start • Calculate optimal screening intervals for women of different ages We will be able to predict, plan and evaluate the costs and benefits of various strategies to prevent cervical cancer and recommend how to coordinate HPV vaccination and screening in order to prevent as much disease and death in cervical cancer as possible. The results will be in support of healthcare professionals and community planners and individual women will almost immediately benefit from improvements in the cervical cancer screening program.

Preventive screening against cervical cancer has greatly reduced the incidence of the disease in Sweden and many other high-income countries. The test used so far is soon replaced by one that identifies human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. For almost 10 years, vaccines have been available in Sweden that protect against the most serious forms of HPV. It is mainly women aged 10-18 who have been vaccinated and these will enter the screening program in a few years. The new screening program needs to be optimized both for those who are HPV-vaccinated and for those who are not. The aim of the research project is to investigate how this process is affected by the conventional cytological screening, the new screening for finding HPV and by HPV vaccination, by means of a quantitative dynamic simulation model for the cervical cancer development process. We intend to evaluate and optimize screening for cervical cancer for women who are HPV-vaccinated and women who are not HPV-vaccinated by:    • Examine at what age the screening should start • Calculate optimal screening intervals for women of different ages We will be able to predict, plan and evaluate the costs and benefits of various strategies to prevent cervical cancer and recommend how to coordinate HPV vaccination and screening in order to prevent as much disease and death in cervical cancer as possible. The results will be in support of healthcare professionals and community planners and individual women will almost immediately benefit from improvements in the cervical cancer screening program.