Why are physicians telling some women they are at a higher risk for HPV?

And recommending pap smears every three months...isn't this overkill especially in young women who are not sexually active?

Medical advice not needed, just a general what have you heard about this.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES): DES is a hormonal drug that was given to some women to prevent miscarriage between 1940 and 1971. Women whose mothers took DES (when pregnant with them) develop clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina or cervix more often than would normally be expected. There is about 1 case of this type of cancer in every 1,000 women whose mothers took DES during pregnancy. This means that about 99.9% of "DES daughters" do not develop these cancers.


Family history of cervical cancer: Cervical cancer may run in some families. If your mother or sister had cervical cancer, your chances of developing the disease are increased by 2 to 3 times. Some researchers suspect that some instances of this familial tendency are caused by an inherited condition that makes some women less able to fight off HPV infection than others. In other instances, women from the same family as a patient already diagnosed may be more likely to have one or more of the other non-genetic risk factors previously described in this section

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_What_are_the_risk_factors_for_cervical_cancer_8.asp

I find it perplexing why a physician would recommend pap smears every three months for a young woman (not myself or a relation) who is not sexually active who has been informed that she is at "high risk" for HPV.

that you might suspect a sort of abuse on the part of the doctor?

Its always good to be careful and cautious.

I'll keep checking this out. Thanks for your replies.

Or they don't trust the girls to be honest about their activity.

Women in the study (ages 14 through 65) had both a Pap smear and a Hybrid Capture 2 test. The researchers found:

Prevalence of high-risk strains of HPV was highest among those ages 14 through 19 (at 35%) and lowest among those 50 through 65 (at 6%).
53% of women under 30 whose Pap smear showed atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance had a high-risk HPV strain, compared with 25% of those over 30.
Women under 30 with a normal Pap smear had a high-risk HPV prevalence of 22%, compared with 9% of those over 30.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/STDs/8961

cause fewer and fewer can afford health care.

So someone's got to keep business rolling?

If this is you, ask the doctor why it's recommended.