PLoS medicine
-
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003974.].
-
Dr Amitabh Suthar and Dr Christopher Dye give their perspective on infection, immunity and surveillance of COVID-19.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Risk of cervical precancer among HPV-negative women in the Netherlands and its association with previous HPV and cytology results: A follow-up analysis of a randomized screening study.
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-based screening programs still use one-size-fits-all protocols but efficiency and efficacy of programs may be improved by stratifying women based on previous screening results. ⋯ HPV-negative women had an increased long-term risk of CIN3+ when the HPV test in the previous screening round was positive. This supports the implementation of risk-based intervals that depend on HPV results in the current and previous screening round.
-
Longer time intervals to diagnosis and treatment are associated with worse survival for various types of cancer. The patient, diagnostic, and treatment intervals are considered core indicators for early diagnosis and treatment. This review estimated the median duration of these intervals for various types of cancer and compared it across high- and lower-income countries. ⋯ These results identify the cancers where diagnosis and treatment initiation may take the longest and reveal the extent of global disparities in early diagnosis and treatment. Efforts should be made to reduce help-seeking times for cancer symptoms in lower-income countries. Estimates for the diagnostic and treatment intervals came mostly from high-income countries that have powerful health information systems in place to record such information.