Sponsoring Section/Society: Health Policy Statistics Section
Session Slot: Sunday, 4:30 - 7:00
AudioVisual Request: None
Invited Poster Title: Who Doesn't Get a Pap Test?
Gentleman, Jane F., Statistics Canada
Address: Social Survey Methods Division, Statistics Canada R.H. Coats Bldg, 15th floor, Tunney's Pasture Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0T6
Phone: (613) 951-8553
Fax: (613) 951-0653
Email: gentjan@statcan.ca
Lee, Judy, Statistica Canada
Parsons, Greg F., Statistics Canada
Abstract: This study examines the characteristics associated with getting or not getting a Pap test. Knowing who does not get a Pap test can help health policy makers target their resources and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs for encouraging compliance with cervical cancer screening guidelines. Canadian guidelines recommend that most women get Pap smears every three years after two satisfactory smears one year apart. The data analyzed were from Statistics Canada's 1994/95 National Population Health Survey. Multivariate logistic regressions were run to determine the odds of women ever having had a Pap test and, among women who had, the odds of having done so in the previous one and three years. The results show that the odds of ever having had a Pap test increase with age up to age group 30-39, after which they decrease. The odds for women aged 70 and over are only 70% of those for women aged 18-19. It might have been expected that the oldest women would be the most likely to have ever had a Pap test, since they have had the longest opportunity to have done so. The lower Pap test rates for older women are evidently due to differing attitudes toward and opportunities for Pap tests. Other characteristics of women with low odds of having had a Pap test are: being single (never married), being a resident of the province of Quebec, having immigrated to Canada, having less than a secondary level of education, not being in the highest household income group, and having had relatively few sex partners in the last year. Overall, 26% of women in the targeted age group (18-69) were not adhering to current screening guidelines because they had either not ever had a Pap test or they had not had one in the last three years.
Theme Session: Yes
Applied Session: Yes