Testing for human papillomavirus during cervical screening does not help doctors identify women at risk of cancer, a study suggests.

一项调查显示，子宫颈癌常规检查中对乳头瘤病毒的检测并不能帮助医生辨别出有患癌症风险的女性。

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Minor abnormalities in smear tests are very common

A positive HPV（人乳头状瘤病毒） test does not accurately³ predict which women need an urgent follow-up（后续行动，跟进） , say doctors.

Each year, millions of UK women have a cervical（子宫颈的） screening test as part of the national programme.

The NHS is piloting add-on tests for the virus linked to cervical cancer at several UK centres.

Other studies have shown this could be a useful tool for identifying women at high risk of developing cervical cancer.

Around six out of 100 women who have a test receive a borderline or mild abnormality result.

But only a tiny minority of these will go on to develop cervical cancer.

The study, funded by the Medical Research Council, looked at 4,439 women undergoing cervical screening in Grampian, Tayside and Nottingham.

Those with mild abnormalities were tested to see if they were positive for HPV, a sexually-transmitted infection linked to most cases of cervical cancer.

Early signs

But the researchers found 70% of women testing positive for HPV after a mild abnormality result did not develop early signs of cancer during a three-year follow-up.

Dr Maggie Cruickshank, from the Department of Obstetrics（产科学，助产术） and Gynaecology（妇科医学） at the University of Aberdeen, led the study.

She said: "The most important thing is to attend for cervical cancer screening - the most effective way of preventing cervical cancer.

"This new additional test may not add any value.

"Our study is showing that HPV is such a common infection in younger women that testing for it doesn't help decide which is the best action to take."

But in women over 40, HPV testing might be useful for ruling out（排除） further investigations⁴, she added.