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Meeting the cervical cancer screening needs of underserved women: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 2004–2006

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the extent to which the only national organized screening program in the US, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), has helped to meet the cervical cancer screening needs of underserved women.

Methods

Low-income, uninsured women 18–64 years of age are eligible for free cervical cancer screening services through NBCCEDP. We used data from the US Census Bureau to estimate the number of eligible women, based on insurance status and income. The estimates were adjusted for hysterectomy status using the National Health Interview Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We used administrative data from NBCCEDP to obtain the number of women receiving NBCCEDP-funded Papanicolaou (Pap) tests. We then calculated the percentage of NBCCEDP-eligible women who received free cervical cancer screening through NBCCEDP. We also used the NHIS to calculate the percentage of NBCCEDP-eligible women screened nationally and the percentage unscreened.

Results

In 2004–2006, nearly 9% (775,312 of 8.9 million) of NBCCEDP-eligible women, received NBCCEDP-funded Pap test. Rates varied substantially by age groups, race, and ethnicity. NBCCEDP-eligible women 40–64 years of age had a higher screening rate (22.6%) than eligible women 18–39 years of age (2.3%). Non-Hispanic women had a higher screening rate (9.3%) than Hispanic women (7.3%). Among non-Hispanics, the screening rate was highest among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women (36.1%) and lowest among women of different race combinations (4.6%), The percentage of eligible women screened in each state ranged from 2.0 to 38.4%.

Conclusions

Although NBCCEDP provided cervical cancer screening services to 775,312 low-income, uninsured women, this number represented a small percentage of those eligible. In 2005, more than 34% of NBCCEDP-eligible women (3.1 million women) did not receive recommended Pap tests from either NBCCEDP or other sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DCPC, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop K-55, Atlanta, GA, 30341-3717, USA

    Florence K. L. Tangka, James G. Gardner, Janet Royalty, Susan Sabatino & Ingrid J. Hall

  2. Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Kate Shaw

  3. Office of Public Health Genomics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ralph J. Coates

  4. Data Integration Division, US Census Bureau, Washington, DC, USA

    Brett O’Hara

  5. Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, US Census Bureau, Washington, DC, USA

    Joanna Turner

Authors
  1. Florence K. L. Tangka
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  2. Brett O’Hara
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  3. James G. Gardner
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  4. Joanna Turner
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  5. Janet Royalty
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  6. Kate Shaw
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  7. Susan Sabatino
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  8. Ingrid J. Hall
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  9. Ralph J. Coates
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Florence K. L. Tangka.

Additional information

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the US Census Bureau.

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Tangka, F.K.L., O’Hara, B., Gardner, J.G. et al. Meeting the cervical cancer screening needs of underserved women: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 2004–2006. Cancer Causes Control 21, 1081–1090 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9536-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9536-3

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