Screening for cervical cancer with the human papillomavirus test in an area of central Italy with no previous active cytological screening programme.

Objective: We report performance indicators and costs of the first round of a cervical cancer screening programme based on the human papillomavirus (HPV)-DNA test.

Methods: We implemented a demonstration study using HPV as the primary test in Guidonia, Italy (90,000 inhabitants). All women aged 25-64 were invited to undergo a Hybrid Capture II high-risk HPV test.