Many menopausal women not attending cervical screening

Some 25% of perimenopausal or menopausal women are not regularly attending their cervical screening appointments, new research has found.

Cervical screening is recommended for all women aged between 25 and 65. The menopause occurs, on average, from the age of 45 upwards and at this stage, women should be attending cervical screening every five years in line with the recommendations of the Government’s national screening programme, CervicalCheck.

However, research carried out on behalf of Besins Healthcare found that 25% of women aged between 45 and 65 who were experiencing perimenopause or menopause were not regularly attending their screening appointments.

This suggests that as many as 112,000 women in this age group may not be participating in the screening programme as they should be

The research found that 17% of menopausal women believe that they are no longer eligible to attend screening, while 12% believe that as they can no longer get pregnant, screening is not required. Both of these suggestions are incorrect.

When asked why their participation decreased during perimenopause or menopause, 35% of women said that they find cervical screening more painful or uncomfortable as a result of changes in their vaginal health.

While there are a number of interventions that women can request or implement ahead of cervical screening to help with this, the research found that 58% of women were unaware of these. Interventions can include:

-Requesting the use of a smaller speculum

-Asking the nurse to insert the speculum using a water-based lubricant

-Choosing a different position for screening, such as on your side rather than on your back

-Speaking to your GP about options to relieve vaginal dryness ahead of your smear test.

According to GP, Dr Caoimhe Hartley, who owns the Menopause Health clinic, these findings show that the menopause is “leading to a decline in regular cervical screening which could lead to increased mortality if women were to develop cervical cancer at this stage of life”.

“With approximately half of women in perimenopause or the menopause experiencing vaginal atrophy, and 35% of women claiming that the screening is more painful or uncomfortable as a result, it is understandable why they may decline to participate in screening, but there are a range of ways to make the experience more comfortable.

“The first port of call is to discuss this with your GP. There are many solutions available that can alleviate the problem of vaginal atrophy, enabling you to attend cervical screening which has the potential to save your life,” she said.