Smear testing - pros, cons and effectiveness

Who should get a pap smear?
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/11/03/who-should-get-a-pap-smear/

Dr Angela Raffle - letter to British Medical Journal
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/315/7113/953

More than you need to know? These days, we are screened for a whole raft of diseases. But just how effective are they?http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/nov/15/medicineandhealth.publichealth

Trade-offs in cervical cancer prevention, balancing benefits and risks
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746633/

Does cancer screening save lives?
http://wellness.blogs.time.com/2009/08/11/does-cancer-screening-save-lives-not-nearly-as-many-as-you-might-guess/#ixzz0X6GL4QQQ

Are mammograms and PSA tests overrated?
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/10/21/are-mammograms-and-psa-tests-overrated/tab/comments/#comment-629355

Should we abandon pap testing?http://ajcp.ascpjournals.org/content/supplements/114/Suppl_1/S48.full.pdf+html?sid=fb361d0c-ca1e-432b-a6dc-2c23cc95e16d

Outcomes of screening to prevent cancer: analysis of cumulative incidence of cervical
abnormality and modelling of cases and deaths prevented
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7395/901?ijkey=kndK1dePPBERM

Jade and the dangers of smear testing
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/6384/

Low-risk women should not be over-screened for cervical cancer
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Low-risk+women+should+not+be+overscreened+for+cervical+cancer.-a0156361252

Low risk of cervical cancer during a long period after negative screening in the Netherlands
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v88/n7/abs/6600843a.html

At what age do cancer tests offer more risks than benefits?
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/23/prca1123.htm

Screening for older citizens
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/preventivemedicine/chi-healthy-seniors-26-oct26,0,7041458.story

Colposcopy rates and results
http://www.vccr.org/stats_reports/2007/histology_07.html

Dr Angela Raffles book on screening practice
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Screening-Evidence-practice-Angela-Raffle/dp/0199214492

Added 21 Dec 09
UK cervical cancer screening programme and statistics - 2010-11
http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical/statistics.html

Added 21 Dec 09 Finnish Screening evaluation study
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/6/252

Added 21 Dec 09
Explanation of CIN1, CIN2 etc
http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Cervical-Screening-(Cervical-Smear-Test).htm

Added 21 Dec 09
Effect of screening on incidence of and mortality from cancer of cervix in England: evaluation based on routinely collected statistics
http://www.cervicalcheck.ie/_fileupload/Downloads/Quinn_Effect%20of%20screening%20on%20incidence.pdf

Added 21 Dec 09
Cervical cancer - a guide for nurses
http://books.google.com/books?id=xX6ueqslld4C&pg=PT172&lpg=PT172&dq=cervical+screening%2Bfinancial+incentives&source=bl&ots=BwdlW_sQ7A&sig=PCTdP7Cl4R0V5EOLnSCHrCm0h30&hl=en&ei=N_IvS56ZH8jajQe38fHRAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CEIQ6AEwCThG#v=onepage&q=cervical%20screening%2Bfinancial%20incentives&f=false

Added 1 Jan 2010 - Debates about cervical screening - a historical overview http://jech.bmj.com/content/62/4/284.extract

Added 1 Jan 2010 - Is cervical screening working - a cytopathologists view from the United Kingdom
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WGD-4CXKYF6-2D&_user=10&_origUdi=B6VBF-3VV412M-1T&_fmt=high&_coverDate=02%2F28%2F1997&_rdoc=1&_orig=article&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d82ce859482264c74734179bea61fa3c

Added 6 Jan 2010 - Cancer screening - what could hurt?
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-screenings21-2009nov21%2C0%2C6713570.story?page=2

Added 16 Jan 2010 - Detection rates for abnormal cervical smears - what are we screening for?http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7769901?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

Added 22 Jan 2010- Trade offs in cervical cancer prevention http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746633/

Added 13 Feb 2010 Debates about cervical screening - an historical overview http://jech.bmj.com/content/62/4/284.extract

Added 25 Feb 2010 - Making the pap smear into the right tool - cervical cancer in the USA circa 1940 - 1995
http://www.jstor.org/pss/285603

Added 25 Feb 2010 - Cervical screening in lesbian and bisexual women http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical/publications/screening-lesbians-bisexual-women.pdf

Added 25 Feb 2010 - collection of articles on colposcopy
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/meid:230157

Added 28 April 2010 Risks to pregnancies post-cervical screening and treatment http://women.webmd.com/news/20040504/cervix-treatment-may-endanger-pregnancy-later
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/291/17/2100

Added May 01 2010 - cervical screening transexuals (MtF/FtM) http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/964.aspx?CategoryID=118&SubCategoryID=121

http://www.transfaithonline.org/intersections/cancer/cervical/

Added April 2011 - comprehensive report on the set up and management of the Welsh cervical screening programme
http://www.screeningservices.org.uk/csw/prof/docs/nsf.pdf

Added April 2011 - report on screening in Peru
http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/1/10.full.pdf

Added November 2011 - indepth study on lesbian, gay and bisexual women and cervical screening, in the northwest of the UK (Salford)
http://usir.salford.ac.uk/16596/