With routine cervical screening in women over the age of 30 if the Pap test and the HPV test are both negative, when do they need to be repeated?
The current recommendation of the American Cancer Society (and almost everyone else) is that, in women over the age of 30, when both the Pap test and the HPV test are both negative, both tests should be repeated in 5 years. Although intuition might tell you that testing more often is better, the truth is that it is worse. A woman who has a negative Pap test and a negative HPV test is at the same risk of having cervical precancer 5 years later as someone who had a negative Pap test every single year for those 5 years. Testing more often increases the risk of finding a minor infection that will never become cancer and will go away by itself but because it is discovered it may lead to extra colposcopy and possibly treatment. Testing less often means that these minor infections may never be discovered and the extra colposcopy and treatment is avoided. So rather than being helpful, Pap testing more often than necessary is harmful. | 
