Papanicolaou test collection with the Papette brush or the spatula with cytobrush: A pragmatic study.

BACKGROUND: Cotesting with the Papanicolaou (Pap) and human papillomavirus tests detects most precancerous and cancerous lesions and increases the sensitivity for detecting high-grade precancerous and invasive cervical cancers compared with human papillomavirus testing alone. OBJECTIVE: To compare the use of the Papette brush (hereafter Papette) to the traditional spatula with endocervical brush (cytobrush) for cervical cancer screening. DESIGN: Pragmatic observational study. METHODS: Adult women aged 21-64 years who were eligible for a Papanicolaou test at a Midwest Community Internal Medicine practice underwent cervical cancer screening using the Papette or spatula with cytobrush from 18 August 2021 through 1 February 2022. Cluster sampling was used across the practice. Pathology reports were then analyzed to compare the number of satisfactory versus unsatisfactory results between the two collection techniques. RESULTS: We collected results for 756 Pap tests. The test results were satisfactory with the Papette 93.8% of the time compared with 93.0% for the spatula with cytobrush. CONCLUSION: The Papette is not inferior to a spatula with cytobrush as a collection method for Pap tests.

Postpartum depression in older women.

Postpartum depression, which affects 10% to 20% of women in the United States, can significantly harm the health and quality of life for mother, child, and family. This article reviews the risk factors, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of postpartum depression with specific focus on women of advanced maternal age.