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Clinical Trial
. 1998 Aug;13(8):515-21.
doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00161.x.

Increasing breast and cervical cancer screening in low-income women

K L Margolis  1 , N Lurie, P G McGovern, M Tyrrell, J S Slater
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Increasing breast and cervical cancer screening in low-income women

K L Margolis et al. J Gen Intern Med. 1998 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To determine if women would have higher breast and cervical cancer screening rates if lay health advisers recommended screening and offered a convenient screening opportunity.

Design: Controlled trial.

Setting: Urban county teaching hospital.

Participants: Women aged 40 years and over attending appointments in several non-primary-care outpatient clinics.

Interventions: Lay health advisers assessed the participants' breast and cervical cancer screening status and offered women in the intervention group who were due for screening an appointment with a female nurse practitioner.

Measurements and main results: Screening rates at baseline and at follow-up 1 year after the intervention were determined. At follow-up, the mammography rate was 69% in the intervention group versus 63% in the usual care group (p = .009), and the Pap smear rate was 70% in the intervention group versus 63% in the usual care group (p = .02). In women who were due for screening at baseline, the mammography rate was 60% in the intervention group versus 50% in the usual care group (p = .006), and the Pap smear rate was 63% in the intervention group versus 50% in the usual care group (p = .002). The intervention was effective across age and insurance payer strata, and was particularly effective in Native American women.

Conclusions: Breast and cervical cancer screening rates were improved in women attending non-primary-care outpatient clinics by using lay health advisers and a nurse practitioner to perform screening. The effect was strongest in women in greatest need of screening.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Recruitment and allocation of the study participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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