The Pap gap. (FYI).

Only three in five U.S. women of reproductive age have had a Pap test within the past year, and an analysis of data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth reveals that not all women are equally likely to have been tested. (1) When background factors and insurance status are controlled for, women with any of five risk factors for cervical cancer (very early initiation of sex, 10 or more lifetime partners, history of pelvic inflammatory disease or sexually transmitted disease, and a partner who has recently had multiple partners) have significantly elevated odds of having had a Pap test within the past year (odds ratio, 1.6); even among these women, however, nearly one-third have not been tested recently. Women aged 20-34 and non-Hispanic black women also have an elevated likelihood of having been tested (1.5-2.0). In a number of subgroups--women with no insurance, women younger than 18, never-married women, those with less than a high school education, those who are poor or low-income, non-Hispanic women of a minority racial group other than black and immigrants--no more than about half of women have been tested recently, and multivariate analyses confirm that their odds of testing are reduced (0.4-0.8). To improve Pap test use, the analysts recommend that educational campaigns "inform women of cervical cancer risk factors and encourage screening and provision of increased support."

(1.) Hewitt M, Devesa S and Breen N, Papanicolaou test use among reproductive-age women at high risk for cervical cancer: analyses of the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth, American Journal of Public Health, 2002, 92(4):666-669.

FYI is compiled and written by Dore Hollander, executive editor of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.