%0 Journal Article
%T Personal factors influence use of cervical cancer screening services: epidemiological survey and linked administrative data address the limitations of previous research
%A Sarah C Olesen
%A Peter Butterworth
%A Patricia Jacomb
%A Robert J Tait
%J BMC Health Services Research
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6963-12-34
%X The cross-sectional sample included 1685 women aged 44-48 and 64-68 years from the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan, Australia. Relative risk was assessed by logistic regression models and summary Population Attributable Risk (PAR) was used to quantify the effect of inequalities on rates of cervical cancer screening.Overall, 60.5% of women participated in screening over the two-year period recommended by Australian guidelines. Screening participation was associated with having children, moderate or high use of health services, employment, reported lifetime history of drug use, and better physical functioning. Conversely, rates of cervical screening were lower amongst women who were older, reliant on welfare, obese, current smokers, reported childhood sexual abuse, and those with anxiety symptoms. A summary PAR showed that effective targeting of women with readily observable risk-factors (no children, no partner, receiving income support payments, not working, obese, current smoker, anxiety, poor physical health, and low overall health service use) could potentially reduce overall non-participation in screening by 74%.This study illustrates a valuable method for investigating the personal determinants of health service use by combining representative survey data with linked administrative records. Reliable knowledge about the characteristics that predict uptake of cervical cancer screening services will inform targeted health promotion efforts.Cancer of the cervix is the second most prevalent cancer among women worldwide. The greatest burden occurs in the developing world where the mortality rate ranges from 10 to 35 per 100 000 compared with two to four deaths per 100 000 in developed nations [1]. This difference is attributed to effective, national screening programs of cervical cytologic testing (the Papanicolaou test) to identify cell abnormalities that may indicate or precede cervical cancers [2,3].Screening programs for cervical cancer typically targ
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/34