Not Enough Females Are Being Screened for Cervical Cancer
2025-2026 Cancer Prevention & Early Detection report says cervical cancer prevention needs urgent attention. Good news: Fewer people smoke than ever before.
Trends in Screening for Breast, Cervical, and Colorectal Cancer, in the US, 2000-2023*#
This graph shows how the percentage of people being screened for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer changed from before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019) to after it (2021-2023). Only cervical cancer screening hasn’t rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels. Source: Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Facts & Figures 2025-2026
Every 2 years, researchers from the 绿帽社 (ACS) publish a comprehensive report using data from multiple national and state surveys about how many adults in the United States report behaviors that can affect their cancer risk or help find it early—because these efforts are essential to reduce the cancer burden.
The latest ACS review of cancer prevention and early detection evaluates the years before (2019), during (2020-2021), and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) in the US. Progress was mixed. Smoking prevalence during the pandemic was at an historic low, and fewer teens used e-cigarettes. But more young adults are using e-cigarettes, and obesity rates remained high. In terms of cancer screening and early detection:
- Cervical cancer screening rates were lower during the pandemic than before it, and still haven't rebounded, which unfortunately is a continuation of a declining pattern for the past 20 years.
- Breast and colorectal cancer screening rebounded after declining or stalling during the pandemic.
- HPV vaccination rates were flat during and after the pandemic departing from previously increasing trends.
The current findings?are published?in the?journal ?a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) as well as in the ACS report?Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Facts & Figures, 2025-2026.?The review is one of the only sources that looks at the major modifiable cancer risk factors in addition to HPV vaccination and cancer screening test use at both the national and state levels.?
According to , about 40%?of cancer cases in the US are attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors, which include cigarette smoking, carrying excess body weight, drinking alcohol, physical inactivity, eating unhealthily, excessive ultraviolet radiation exposure, and 7 cancer-causing infections.?That means that the implementation of national, state, or private preventive initiatives could substantially reduce the US cancer burden.?
HPV vaccination rates for adolescents increased before the pandemic but did not change through 2023.
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine?currently used in the US has the potential to prevent about 90% of HPV-caused cancers. All females also need to know that HPV vaccination does not replace cervical cancer screening.
Here are some key statistics.
Before the pandemic: HPV vaccination in adolescents, age 13 to 17,?increased significantly between 2019 and 2021.
After the pandemic: ?Vaccination prevalence has remained unchanged, through 2023.
Cervical cancer screening rates declined during the COVID-19? pandemic and have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
Persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection causes almost all cervical cancers.?Cervical cancer screening is recommended?for females ages 21 to 65. Compared to 30 years ago, cervical cancer incidence and death rates are half of what they were—and that’s due to screening.?
Cervical cancer could become a thing of the past in the US if all females were current with HPV vaccination recommendations and cervical cancer screening guidelines. Females need them both. Vaccination doesn't replace the need for screening because the vaccine protects against most, but not all, HPV-caused cancers.”