Inefficiencies of over-screening and under-screening for cervical cancer prevention in the U.S.

There is limited information on the cost-inefficiencies of non-adherence to recommended cervical cancer screening or the potential value for improving non-adherence. We estimated the incremental value of adhering to recommended screening every three years with cytology, using a disease simulation model that integrated real-world screening practice data from New Mexico. The amount that can be spent to improve adherence was estimated by calculating the incremental net monetary benefit (INMB) under scenarios of Current Practice (assuming a population of mixed adherence) and Uniformly Non-Adherent populations with imperfect or perfect adherence to follow-up of screen-positive women. Getting unscreened women screened every three years by cytology was a better value than increasing screening in the under-screened or reducing screening in the over-screened. For example, INMBs were $3998 for screening previously unscreened women versus $136 for eliminating annual screening at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained. Strategies to reach unscreened women are potentially high-value investments.