The risk of being underscreened for cervical cancer is found to be highest for low-income and uninsured people with a cervix (PWC). Researchers investigated high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) prevalence on home self-collected samples in this at-risk population and determined the rates of in-clinic follow-up and risk factors linked with hrHPV positivity.

• My Body My Test 3 was carried out among individuals aged 25 to 64 years, overdue for cervical cancer screening, and with incomes of < 250% of the US Federal Poverty Level.

• Participants randomized to the self-collection arm, who provided self-collected cervicovaginal brush samples for HPV testing (n = 329), formed the analytic sample.

• Self-collected samples showed hrHPV RNA prevalence of 16% (n = 52/329).

• Twenty-four of the hrHPV-positive participants (46%) vs 56 (20%) of hrHPV-negative participants presented for in-clinic cervical cancer screening.

• Likelihood of being hrHPV positive appeared to be double for individuals with ≥ 2 sexual partners in the past year.

• Attitudes toward screening were similar among high-risk HPV-positive and HPV-negative participants, with the exception of hrHPV-positive participants who described a lower perceived risk of cervical cancer than those who were hrHPV negative.

• Overall there appeared similar hrHPV RNA prevalence to findings in other underscreened PWC in the United States.

• Researchers emphasize making efforts to reach underscreened PWC for cervical cancer prevention.