Management of women with human papillomavirus persistence: long-term follow-up of a randomized clinical trial

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. Study Design Among 12,527 women aged 32–38 years enrolled in the trial, we followed up the 195 women who attended the colposcopy screening who were cytologically normal but persistently human papillomavirus positive (at least 12 months later; median, 19 months) in the human papillomavirus testing arm (n = 100) or were randomly selected from the control arm (n = 95). Women in the human papillomavirus testing arm were followed up with repeated human papillomavirus testing, cytologies, and colposcopies if persistently human papillomavirus–positive without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse. A similar number of random colposcopies and tests were carried out in the control arm. Women were followed up over 13 years for the main outcome measures: cumulative incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse. Results Among women who continued to attend and had continuous human papillomavirus persistence, all (40 of 40, 100% [95% confidence interval, 91–100%]) developed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse. There were no cases among women who cleared their human papillomavirus persistence (0 of 35, 0% (95% confidence interval, 0–10%) ( P Conclusion Women with human papillomavirus persistence will, in general, either become human papillomavirus negative or develop cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse within 6 years, even with intensive clinical follow-up.