INCREASING CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING AMONG MINORITY ELDERLY Education and On-Site Services Increase Screening

Abstract

Older women participate in cervical cancer screening less regularly than do younger women. As a consequence, more lesions are found in more advanced and less curable stages in older women. Elderly black and Hispanic women have had lower rates of participation in cervical cancer screening than white women. There is a marked, inverse relationship between the stage of cervical cancer at diagnosis and the 5-year survival rate. The rate of cervical cancer screening among older women can be increased by offering education about Pap tests and onsite cervical cancer screening in housing for the elderly.

Lessons learned from community-based cancer screening intervention research

“…From those reviews, we identified 58 articles14, 29–85 that 1) met our definition for community‐based studies; 2) described a test for an intervention to increase breast, cervical, and/or colorectal cancer screening; 3) described studies conducted in the United States (because the relevance and appropriateness for communities in the United States of findings generated in other countries is unknown); and 4) described studies that were conducted since the middle 1980s (secular trends have changed the cancer screening landscape; interventions that were considered effective before that time may be less effective now). To illustrate novel features, to demonstrate an important point, or to include the most recent publications, we also drew from some published controlled studies that were not included in the reviews due to strict inclusion criteria.…”

“…Disparities that are based on sociodemographic factors can be modified. Over the past decade, intensive programmatic and research efforts32, 35, 38, 40, 41, 46, 57, 60, 61, 64, 65, 73–76, 80, 90 have been made to reach African American and Latina women who are represented disproportionately among the poor and who had substantially lower mammography screening rates compared with white women through the 1980s. National and regional data reveal that, since the late 1990s, these disparities have been reduced greatly or eliminated by efforts to increase screening among these two populations 91, 92.…”

Outcomes of a Community‐Based Three‐Year Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program for Medically Underserved, Low Income Women

“…Rates of invasive cervical cancer have steadily declined over the past several decades, but this is not true across all sociodemographic groups. A marked, inverse relationship between stage of cervical cancer at diagnosis and the five-year survival rate was reported in a study of low-income minority women (White, Begg, Fishman, Guthrie, & Fagan, 1993). In Ohio minorities have an 80% higher death rate than whites for cervical cancer (American Cancer Society, 2000).…”

Adherence to Cancer Screening

“…Ideally, the test could be performed during a routine visit, or a follow-up visit could be scheduled. [75] During a routine checkup, a physician should not only perform a skin examination, but also emphasize the importance of regular, thorough breast and skin self-examinations.…”