It’s not just the beginning of another new year. It’s also Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. So, as you’re setting your goals for 2025, if you have a cervix, add one specific thing to your list: figuring out how often you should get a Pap smear.
As the Federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion says, vaccination and regular screening, such as Pap smears, help to prevent cervical cancer. The earlier you catch this kind of cancer, the higher the survival rate. In other words, regular Pap smears could save your life.
Here at Internal Medicine of Greater New Haven, we offer dual ways to protect yourself. We provide the Gardasil® vaccine — which prevents human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer — and offer cervical cancer screening through Pap smears.
Our team can help you proactively defend yourself against this cancer at any of our nine offices throughout Connecticut.
In 2024, the American Cancer Society estimates that more than 13,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer. Tragically, more than 4,000 died from it.
Like all forms of cancer, the earlier you catch cervical cancer, the more likely you are to survive it. When a doctor catches it in its early stages, women have a 91% five-year survival rate, per the National Cancer Institute. But if it can spread to even nearby tissue, the survival rate plummets to 60%.
Here’s the good news. We have an extremely effective way to check for cervical cancer and detect cancerous cells as soon as they start to develop. It’s the Pap smear.
Experts — including the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the American Cancer Society — recommend regular Pap smears for women ages 21 to 65. That’s true even if you’ve had the HPV vaccine.
Generally, you should get your first Pap smear when you’re 21 (cervical cancer rarely develops in women younger than that). Get another Pap smear every three years throughout your 20s.
Once you turn 30, there’s a chance you can put more time between each of these cervical cancer screenings. If you’re getting an HPV test with the Pap smear, you can space your screenings five years apart.
If you’ve been getting regular cervical cancer screening and you’ve never had an abnormal Pap smear, you can stop this screening at age 65.
All of this assumes that you have a normal risk level for this kind of cancer. We might recommend more frequent screening if you have a history of abnormal cervical cells or other risk factors. Our team can help you figure out the right cadence to protect yourself.
Long story short: don’t put off that Pap smear. It could save your life. To schedule this critical screening, call the Internal Medicine of Greater New Haven office nearest you or book an appointment online today.
