Cervical cytology screening: a comparison of uptake among 'Asian' and 'non-Asian' women in Oldham

Abstract

This study investigates the response of 'Asian' and 'non-Asian' women to a computer-generated invitation to attend for a cervical smear during a one-year period. One hundred and fifty-eight 'Asian' women were compared with 158 non-'Asian' women from four general practices in Oldham; the women were aged between 50 and 64 years and were from a restricted geographical area to control for socioeconomic factors. It was found that there was no difference in the response to the test invitation between the two groups (uptake in 'Asians' 61.5 per cent, 'non-Asians' 60.6 per cent). 'Non-Asian' women were more likely to have had a previous smear than 'Asian' women. The Family Health Services Authority register contained a higher number of inaccurate addresses for 'Asian' women. It is suggested that ethnicity did not seem to play an important part in the uptake of cervical smear testing in this population.