Colposcopy in comparison with HPV-Pap test for the diagnosis of Cervical ‎Intraepithelial Neoplasia 2‎

The effectiveness of cervical cancer screening programs is an issue of concern in developing countries. It  is a goal of researchers to find another solution or screening method to solve this problem. The current study aimed to compare the cos teffectiveness of the colposcopy and HPV-Pap test approaches.  This cross-sectional study examined 1944 asymptomatic women aged 30-70 years who had undergone colposcopy from 2013-2015. The cost of finding each CIN2 case was obtained and compared with the cost of the HPV-Pap test finding.  A pathology of CIN2  or greater cases were reported in 43 cases (2.2%). The cost of finding each case by colposcopy was 2,456 USD and by PCR-Pap was 2,966 USD (P<0.0001). The cost of finding each CIN2 or greater case by HPV-Pap test was 1.32 times that of a colposcopy. Colposcopy in this setting was more cost-effective and should be considered in similar settings.