Testing menstrual blood for human papillomavirus during cervical cancer screening in China: cross sectional population based study
Tian X, Cao C, Wang L, et al.BMJ · 2026DOI 10.1136/bmj-2025-084831
In plain language
A population-based study of 3,068 women in Hubei Province, China, comparing HPV testing on menstrual blood collected with a minipad against clinician-collected cervical samples. For CIN2+ the menstrual sample reached 94.7% sensitivity (36 of 38 cases), similar to clinician sampling, with slightly lower specificity (89.1% versus 90.0%) and the same negative predictive value of 99.9%. Overall HPV genotype concordance between the two samples was 97.7%.
Key numbers
- 3,068
- Women aged 20 to 54 in Hubei Province, China
- 94.7%
- Sensitivity for CIN2+ (36 of 38 cases)
- 99.9%
- Negative predictive value, same as clinician sampling
What it means
In this screening population, HPV testing on menstrual blood found nearly as many CIN2+ cases as clinician sampling, with slightly lower specificity. It used a different collection pad, not the Q-Pad, and women negative on both tests were not biopsied.
What it does not show
One region of China, a purpose-built minipad (not the Q-Pad), only 38 CIN2+ cases, and no biopsy for women negative on both tests; it supports menstrual HPV testing as a research option, not a validated screening test.
How to cite
Tian X, Cao C, Wang L, Zhang J, Chen Y, Tian R, et al. Testing menstrual blood for human papillomavirus during cervical cancer screening in China: cross sectional population based study. BMJ. 2026;392:e084831. doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-084831