Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 1;19(7):4193.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074193.

Barriers to Access the Pap Smear Test for Cervical Cancer Screening in Rural Riverside Populations Covered by a Fluvial Primary Healthcare Team in the Amazon

Débora C B da Silva  1 , Luiza Garnelo  1 , Fernando J Herkrath  1   2
Affiliations

Barriers to Access the Pap Smear Test for Cervical Cancer Screening in Rural Riverside Populations Covered by a Fluvial Primary Healthcare Team in the Amazon

Débora C B da Silva et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Cervical cancer is a major public health problem, especially in the north region of Brazil. The aim of the study was to identify the factors associated with not undergoing the cervical cancer screening test in rural riverside populations in the Amazon. A cross-sectional home-based survey was carried out in 38 locations covered by a fluvial primary healthcare team, and the administrative records of the screening tests from January 2016 to May 2019 were analyzed. After the descriptive analysis, logistic regression was performed considering the outcome of having undergone cervical cancer screening within the past three years. Of the 221 women assessed, 8.1% had never undergone the test, and 7.7% had undergone it more than three years ago. Multiparity (OR = 0.76 (95%CI = 0.64-0.90)), occupation in domestic activities (OR = 0.31 (95%CI = 0.11-0.89)), and lack of knowledge of the healthcare unit responsible for the service (OR = 0.18 (95%CI = 0.04-0.97)) were associated with not undergoing the cervical cancer screening test. The administrative records revealed that the screening test was performed outside the recommended age range (24%), performed needlessly (9.6%) with undue repetitions (3.2%), and a high percentage of the samples collected were unsatisfactory (23.5%). The findings revealed the existence of barriers for riverside women to access cervical cancer screening tests.

Keywords: access to health services; cancer screening tests; rural population; uterine cervical neoplasms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Riverside rural locations covered by the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lopes V.A.S., Ribeiro J.M. Cervical cancer control limiting factors and facilitators: A literature review. Cienc. Saude Coletiva. 2019;24:3431–3442. doi: 10.1590/1413-81232018249.32592017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer As a Public Health Problem. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2020.
    1. Arbyn M., Weiderpass E., Bruni L., de Sanjosé S., Saraiya M., Ferlay J., Bray F. Estimates of incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in 2018: A worldwide analysis. Lancet Glob. Health. 2020;8:e191–e203. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30482-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bray F., Ferlay J., Soerjomataram I., Siegel R.L., Torre L.A., Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2018;68:394424. doi: 10.3322/caac.21492. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ministério da Saúde. Instituto Nacional do Câncer José de Alencar Gomes da Silva (INCA) Estimativa 2020: Incidência de câncer no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Saúde. [(accessed on 20 October 2021)];2019 Available online: https://www.inca.gov.br/publicacoes/livros/estimativa-2020-incidencia-de....

Publication types