ArticleBJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology2021
Psychosexual distress following routine primary human papillomavirus testing: a longitudinal evaluation within the English Cervical Screening Programme.
Article in BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychological and sexual impact of human papillomavirus screening in women in Cameroon: a prospective cohort study.BMC women's health · 2025Trial
- Safety Run-in of Intramuscular pNGVL4a-Sig/E7(detox)/HSP70 DNA and TA-CIN Protein Vaccination as Treatment for HPV16+ ASC-US, ASC-H, or LSIL/CIN1.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2023Trial
- Comparison of sexual distress and sexual avoidance in women with and without genital warts: a case-control study.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Awareness and knowledge about HPV and primary HPV screening among women in Great Britain: An online population-based survey.Journal of medical screening · 2024Article
- Analysis of risk factors associated with cervical HPV infection and their effects on female sexual function and anxiety: a multicenter cross-sectional study based on Chinese women.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Exploring the psychosexual impact and disclosure experiences of women testing positive for high-risk cervical human papillomavirus.British journal of health psychology · 2023Article
- Psychosocial impact of testing human papillomavirus positive in Australia's human papillomavirus-based cervical screening program: A cross-sectional survey.Psycho-oncology · 2022Article
- Extension of cervical screening intervals with primary human papillomavirus testing: observational study of English screening pilot data.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Observational
- Distinct Illness Representation Profiles Are Associated With Anxiety in Women Testing Positive for Human Papillomavirus.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2022Article
- Adaptation of patients diagnosed with human papillomavirus: a grounded theory study.Reproductive health · 2021Article
- Psychosexual distress following routine primary human papillomavirus testing: a longitudinal evaluation within the English Cervical Screening Programme.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2021Article
- Exploring reasons for variations in anxiety after testing positive for human papillomavirus with normal cytology: a comparative qualitative study.Psycho-oncology · 2021Article
- The most influential factors in the psychological impact of an abnormal cervical screening result: A cross-sectional study.Health psychology openArticle
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo assess psychosexual distress over a 12-month period among women receiving different human papillomavirus (HPV) and cytology results in the context of the English HPV primary screening pilot.
designLongitudinal, between-group study.
settingFive sites in England where primary HPV testing was piloted. POPULATION: Women aged 24-65 years (n = 1133) who had taken part in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.
methodsWomen were sent a postal questionnaire soon after receiving their screening results (baseline) and 6 and 12 months later. Data were analysed using linear regression models to compare psychosexual outcomes between groups receiving six possible combinations of HPV and cytology screening results, including a control group with normal cytology and no HPV test.
main outcome measuresPsychosexual distress, assessed using six items from the Psychosocial Effects of Abnormal Pap Smears Questionnaire (PEAPS-Q).
resultsAt all time points, there was an association between screening result group and psychosexual distress (all P < 0.001). At baseline, mean psychosexual distress score (possible range: 1-5) was significantly higher among women with HPV and normal cytology (B = 1.15, 95% CI 0.96-1.34), HPV and abnormal cytology (B = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.78-1.27) and persistent HPV (B = 0.90, 95% CI 0.70-1.10) compared with the control group (all P < 0.001). At the 6 and 12 month follow ups the pattern of results were similar, but coefficients were smaller.
conclusionsOur findings suggest receiving an HPV-positive result can cause psychosexual distress, particularly in the short-term. Developing interventions to minimise the psychosexual burden of testing HPV-positive will be essential to avoid unnecessary harm to the millions of women taking part in cervical screening. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Receiving an HPV-positive result following primary HPV testing can cause psychosexual distress, particularly in the short-term.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.