Examining factors related to cervical cancer screening among women,
ages 18 and older, in Virginia: based on the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System
SARAH JONES
Advisor: Diane Wilson, Ed.D., R.D.
Preceptor: Gerges Seifen, M.P.H., M.B.B.S.
Background: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. However, the Pap test, a simple screening procedure, is used to detect cervical cancer and recent studies have shown that there are still many women that do not receive the Pap test. It is important to identify women that are not screened to better understand barriers to screening and to improve screening rates in the state of Virginia.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine which factors contribute to women not receiving Pap tests in a sample population and to analyze the strengths of the associations between the various independent variables and outcome variables.
Methods: The 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data was used for this study. The BRFSS collects information by telephone. The questionnaire used asks questions pertaining to demographics, as well as behavioral issues. Prevalence odds ratios (POR) and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the strengths of the associations. Logistic regression was used for the independent variables to further assess the associations between them and the outcome variables.
Results: The majority of women polled had received the Pap test (97.4%) and had received it within three years (89.3%) of the 2595 women surveyed. Never having had a Pap test was more strongly associated with being unemployed (POR=2.2, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.7), being Black (POR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.9), and having no health coverage (POR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.9). Having a Pap test 3 or more years ago was more strongly associated with having less education, such as some post High School (POR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.6, 3.9), being unemployed (POR=2.1, 95% CI: 1.6, 2.8), having no health coverage (POR=2.0, 95% CI: 1.5, 2.8), and not having exercised in the past month (POR=2.2, 95% CI: 1.7, 2.8). Binary logistic regression results show that white women, women with minimal education, lower incomes, and women without health coverage, are more likely to have had a Pap test 3 or more years ago.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that there are consistencies with already published studies and the results from the 2002 BRFSS findings of Virginia. These results show that among women who are not receiving preventive services, they are more likely to be without insurance, to be unemployed, and to have not exercised in the past month. The results of this study better define the population that is not being screened. More studies looking at other variables, such as finding out where the participant goes when she does need health care and why a person did not seek health care if she needed it should be considered for future studies to further help intervention efforts.
