Overuse of papanicolaou testing among older women and among women without a cervix.

Leading national organizations are increasingly using evidence-based recommendations for Papanicolaou testing. As of 2003, organizations recommended against Papanicolaou testing for women without a cervix following a hysterectomy who do not have a history of high-grade precancerous lesion or cervical cancer and for women older than 65 years with adequate prior screening and who are not at high risk. Few studies have investigated overuse of Papanicolaou testing among US women. We aimed to investigate overuse of Papanicolaou testing in relation to cervical cancer screening recommendations.