Publications by authors named "Kristina Elfgren"

Background: Sweden started subsidized quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccination for girls aged 13 to 17 in 2007. Since 2012, vaccination has been offered to all girls aged 10 to 12 within a school-based vaccination program, with a coverage of 80% or more. In addition, the vaccine has been offered on-demand as catch-up vaccination for girls aged 13 to 18, with a cumulative coverage of 55% to 60%.

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Introduction: Non-participation in screening is a main risk factor for cervical cancer. Human-papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling may be an alternative to repeated invitations for non-attenders. Several studies have concluded that participation among non-attenders increases significantly when offering self-sampling kits for HPV.

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In this review we summarize the current knowledge about the HPV vaccines developed in the beginning of the 21st century. The vaccines are very effective and safe, with no serious side effects. In Sweden we have a school-based prophylactic vaccination programme for both girls and boys.

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Background: Clinical trials in the research setting have demonstrated that primary human papillomavirus (HPV)-based screening results in greater protection against cervical cancer compared with cytology, but evidence from real-life implementation was missing. To evaluate the effectiveness of HPV-based cervical screening within a real-life screening program, the organized, population-based cervical screening program in the capital region of Sweden offered either HPV- or cytology-based screening in a randomized manner through a randomized healthcare policy (RHP).

Methods And Findings: A total of 395,725 women aged 30 to 64 years that were invited for their routine cervical screening visit were randomized without blinding to either cytology-based screening with HPV triage (n = 183,309) or HPV-based screening, with cytology triage (n = 212,416 women) between September 1, 2014 and September 30, 2016 and follow-up through June 30, 2017.

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Background: Data are lacking regarding which human papillomavirus (HPV) types cause high-grade cervical neoplasia (CIN2+) in people with HIV in Europe. We assessed which HPV types are associated with CIN2+ in women living in Sweden by HIV status.

Methods: The Swedish National HIV Registry, the Swedish Population Registry, and the Swedish National Cervical Screening Registry were linked.

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Background: Human papillomavirus-based screening has a higher sensitivity for precursors of cervical cancer compared with cytology-based screening. However, more evidence is needed on optimal management of human papillomavirus-positive women.

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the risk of histopathologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial lesions grade 2 or worse after 1 and 3 years of human papillomavirus persistence, respectively, and evaluate the clinical management of human papillomavirus-positive women in the 56-60 year age group.

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Objectives: To assess if women living with HIV (WLWH) have poorer outcome after treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2, grade 3, adenocarcinoma in situ or cervical cancer (CIN2+) than HIV-negative women (HNW) and to identify predictors of CIN2+ treatment failure and recurrence in WLWH.

Design: Population-based cohort study with follow-up between 1983 and 2015.

Methods: The Swedish National HIV Registry, the Swedish Population Registry and the Swedish National Cervical Screening Registry were linked to identify all women in Stockholm and Gothenburg counties (Sweden) living with HIV and diagnosed with CIN2+ (n = 179) sometime between 1983 and 2014.

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Objective: The aim of this research is to implement and reliably evaluate primary human papillomavirus (HPV) screening in an established and routinely running organised, large-scale population-based screening programme.

Participants: Resident women in the Stockholm/Gotland region of Sweden, aged 56-60 years were randomised to either (1) screening with cervical cytology, with HPV test in triage of low-grade cytological abnormalities (old policy) or (2) screening with HPV testing, with cytology in triage of HPV positives (new policy).

Outcome: The primary evaluation was the detection rate of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+).

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Background: Introduction of human papillomavirus-based screening is ongoing in many countries, given its higher sensitivity and longer-lasting protection compared with cytology-based screening. However, optimal clinical management of human papillomavirus-positive but cytology-negative women is unclear, and additional studies with clinical follow-up are warranted.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate the long-term outcomes of the clinical management used in a double-blind, randomized clinical trial of human papillomavirus screening conducted in the context of the routine, organized screening program in Sweden.

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Little is known about the incidence and risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3, adenocarcinoma in situ and invasive cervical cancer (CIN3+) among migrants living with HIV in a European setting. We assessed the cumulative incidence (CuI) and hazard ratio (HR) of CIN2+ and CIN3+ in a cohort of women living with HIV (WLWH) (n = 893) identified from the Swedish national HIV register and HIV-negative women (n = 205,842) identified from the Swedish Population Register, matched on region of birth and age. Data was collected between 1993 and 2011 by linking our cohort with the Swedish National Cervical Screening Registry, collecting all cytological and histological results since 1993.

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Human papillomavirus (HPV)-based management of women with borderline atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) or mildly abnormal cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CINI) cervical cytology has been extensively studied in the research setting. We wished to assess safety and health care resource use of a real-life health care policy using HPV triaging. All 15 outpatient clinics involved in the organized population-based screening program in Stockholm, Sweden screening program were randomized to either continue with prior policy (colposcopy of all women with ASCUS/CINI) or to implement a policy with HPV triaging and colposcopy only of HPV-positive women.

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Background: Primary cervical screening with both human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing and cytological examination of cervical cells with a Pap test (cytology) has been evaluated in randomized clinical trials. Because the vast majority of women with positive cytology are also HPV DNA positive, screening strategies that use HPV DNA testing as the primary screening test may be more effective.

Methods: We used the database from the intervention arm (n = 6,257 women) of a population-based randomized trial of double screening with cytology and HPV DNA testing to evaluate the efficacy of 11 possible cervical screening strategies that are based on HPV DNA testing alone, cytology alone, and HPV DNA testing combined with cytology among women aged 32-38 years.

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Background: Screening for cervical cancer based on testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) increases the sensitivity of detection of high-grade (grade 2 or 3) cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, but whether this gain represents overdiagnosis or protection against future high-grade cervical epithelial neoplasia or cervical cancer is unknown.

Methods: In a population-based screening program in Sweden, 12,527 women 32 to 38 years of age were randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to have an HPV test plus a Papanicolaou (Pap) test (intervention group) or a Pap test alone (control group). Women with a positive HPV test and a normal Pap test result were offered a second HPV test at least 1 year later, and those who were found to be persistently infected with the same high-risk type of HPV were then offered colposcopy with cervical biopsy.

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The implementation of population-based screening for cervical cancer with Pap smear in the early sixties was set to detect and treat precancerous lesions, hopefully preventing a subsequent invasive cervical cancer. Epidemiological data indicate that organized screening has a major impact on morbidity and mortality from cervical cancer. The limited sensitivity of a single smear necessitates repeated smears in organized program.

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Background: The duration of protection afforded by vaccines represents a critical test of their utility as public health interventions. Some vaccines induce long-term immunity, while others require booster doses. Vaccines that induce long-term protection are usually characterized by the generation of immune memory.

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Background: Of the estimated one million Papanicolaou (pap) smears performed annually in Sweden, about 4% show any degree of abnormality. Approximately, 1% of these cases contain moderate or severe atypia (high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions) and the rest contain low-grade atypia. Recommendations for the management of minor abnormalities vary in various parts of Sweden.

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Objective: Evaluation of colposcopic and histopathological findings in women screened for cervical human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid persistence.

Study Design: A total of 12 527 women, aged 32 to 38 years old, attending the population-based cervical cancer screening program in Sweden were randomized 1:1 to mock testing or human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid testing by general primer 5+/6+ polymerase chain reaction and subsequent typing. Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid-positive women with a normal Papanicolaou smear (n=341) and an equal number from the control group were human papillomavirus tested on average 19 months later.

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Objective: To investigate the rate of clearance of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection after surgical treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Methods: One hundred nine women with CIN I-III, treated with cryosurgery or conization at a university hospital, were observed with cervical HPV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing by general primer polymerase chain reaction and HPV typing at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months after treatment. Penile HPV DNA was analyzed from current sexual partners.

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