American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists announced that women should start getting cervical cancer screenings at age 21 instead of 18, and that women could wait longer between the screenings — regardless of when a woman starts having sex. ACOG is now just endorsing the three-year interval for HPV negative and Pap negative [women]. Women in their 20s with normal Pap smear results now should get screenings every two years instead of every year, and women in their 30s can wait three years between screenings if previous results were within normal limits.

There is some concern that women will neglect annual checkups with gynecologists. An annual pelvic exam is still encouraged particularly for women on oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy.  A risk exists for those women that have never been screened with a pap smear.  Newer methods of pap smear collection also include human papilloma virus screening.

ACOG guidelines point out that only 0.1 percent of cervical cancer occurs in women under 21 years of age in part, doctors believe, because young women’s immune systems are strong enough to fight off HPV before it causes cancer. When dysplasias progress to cancers it’s usually a result of older women missing screenings for years at a time; 50 percent of women diagnosed with cervical cancer each year never had a pap smear before, according to the ACOG statement.