• Posted August 28, 2026

A Third Of Women In Their 20s Haven't Gotten This Essential Cancer Screening

Nearly a third of women in their 20s have never been screened for cervical cancer, increasing their risk of disease and death, a new study says.

Women are urged to start cervical cancer screening at either 21 or 25, based on competing guidelines by the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology and the American Cancer Society.

But nearly 32% of women in their 20s had never been screened for cervical cancer in 2023, amounting to around 6.2 million of U.S. women, researchers reported Aug. 27 in JAMA Network Open.

Overall, the proportion of U.S. women never screened for cervical cancer increased by more than 5% per year between 2005 and 2023, researchers found.

This was accompanied by a more than 2% annual increase in later-stage cervical cancers diagnosed in women 30 to 64 — cancers that might have been caught early with screening, researchers said.

“The findings underscore a growing gap in cervical cancer prevention among young women and during midlife,” wrote the research team led by Kalyani Sonawane, assistant director for data science and analytics at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from a regular federal survey tracking Americans’ health, which includes questions on cervical cancer screening.

“A lot of times national surveys look at the up-to-date rate, meaning how many women are up to date on their screening,” Sonawane said in a news release.

“But this paper is slightly different because it measures the proportion of women who reported that in their lifetime, they've never received screening,” she said.

Results showed that the proportion of women in their 20s never screened for cervical cancer increased from under 13% in 2005 to about 32% in 2023.

The rate of women never screened also increased among those 30 to 65, rising from 5% in 2005 to nearly 15% by 2023, researchers said.

Uninsured women, women in the South and racial minorities were especially likely to have never been screened, researchers said.

The study also found that nearly half (45%) of women in their 20s haven’t been vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer.

Sonawane said the research team isn’t sure why more women are never getting screened.

In previous work, women said they either didn’t have a particular reason or that their doctor hadn’t brought it up, Sonawane said.

Additionally, women who have been vaccinated against HPV might think they don’t need screening, Sonawane said. In fact, guidelines recommend screening even after vaccination.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about cervical cancer.

SOURCES: Medical University of South Carolina, news release, Aug. 27, 2026; JAMA Network Open, Aug. 27, 2026