Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34217415›Full record

ArticlePreventive medicine2021

Impact of COVID-19 on cervical cancer screening: Challenges and opportunities to improving resilience and reduce disparities.

Nicolas Wentzensen, Megan A Clarke, Rebecca B Perkins

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Preventive medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
68citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
16.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

68 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 124 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Rural-Urban Differences in Cervical Cancer Screening Patterns: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2026
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  12. The Impact of COVID-19 on Cervical Cancer Screening in Primary Care.Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM · 2025
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8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Nicolas WentzensenDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: wentzenn@mail.nih.gov.
Megan A ClarkeDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Rebecca B PerkinsBoston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and GeneticsBoston Medical Center · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on a wide range of health outcomes. Disruptions of elective health services related to cervical screening, management of abnormal screening test results, and treatment of precancers, may lead to increases in cervical cancer incidence and exacerbate existing health disparities. Modeling studies suggest that a short delay of cervical screening in subjects with previously negative HPV results has minor effects on cancer outcomes, while delay of management and treatment can lead to larger increases in cervical cancer. Several approaches can mitigate the effects of disruption of cervical screening and management. HPV-based screening has higher accuracy compared to cytology, and a negative HPV result provides longer reassurance against cervical cancer; further, HPV testing can be conducted from self-collected specimens. Self-collection expands the reach of screening to underserved populations who currently do not participate in screening. Self-collection and can also provide alternative screening approaches during the pandemic because testing can be supported by telehealth and specimens collected in the home, substantially reducing patient-provider contact and risk of COVID-19 exposure, and also expanding the reach of catch-up services to address backlogs of screening tests that accumulated during the pandemic. Risk-based management allows prioritizing management of patients at highest risk of cervical cancer while extending screening intervals for those at lowest risk. The pandemic provides important lessons for how to make cervical screening more resilient to disruptions and how to reduce cervical cancer disparities that may be exacerbated due to disruptions of health services.

Indexed as

COVID-19Papillomavirus InfectionsUterine Cervical NeoplasmsEarly Detection of CancerFemaleHumansMass ScreeningPandemicsPapillomaviridaeSARS-CoV-2Cervical cancerCervical precancerCOVID-19Health disparitiesHPVPandemicSARS-CoV-2Screening

Identifiers

PMID34217415
PMCPMC8241689
OpenAlexW3180638209

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.