Cervical screening is something many women have done throughout their adult lives, until at some point the question arises of when it can stop. The answer does not rest on age alone. Your screening history matters just as much.
Broadly, international guidance treats women from around sixty-five onwards as able to stop, provided they have had several consecutive normal results over the preceding decade and no history of high-grade cell changes. The important words are consecutive and normal — not simply reaching an age. A woman who has missed screening for years, or has never been screened, should generally continue even past that threshold.
The group that most often stops too early without realising it is women who have gone through menopause. Many assume that once periods have stopped and they are no longer sexually active, the risk has gone. But a meaningful share of cervical cancers are diagnosed after menopause, because HPV acquired decades earlier can persist and cause changes much later.
Two other groups usually need to continue beyond the standard age: women previously treated for high-grade cell changes, and women whose immune systems are suppressed. For both, doctors normally recommend screening well past the general cut-off. Stopping should therefore be a decision made with a doctor after reviewing your history, rather than something that happens automatically on a birthday.
See a doctor to review your screening history before deciding to stop, and go promptly at any age if you have vaginal bleeding after menopause, bleeding after sex, or unusual discharge that does not settle.