A recent study by Dr. Sylvia Peña (above), assistant professor of nursing at Marquette University, sheds light on a critical health disparity affecting Hispanic women: the low screening rates for cervical cancer. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hispanic women are 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and 30 percent more likely to die from it than non-Hispanic white women.
Dr. Peña’s research focused on understanding why Hispanic women are less likely to undergo cervical cancer screening, despite the availability of effective screening tests. Her study involved surveying 150 Hispanic women in the Milwaukee area, examining factors such as age, marital status, medical insurance coverage, religiosity, and beliefs related to cervical cancer screening. Shockingly, 26 percent of the women had not received a Pap smear, the primary screening test for cervical cancer.
Religiosity and acculturation did not significantly impact screening rates, challenging common assumptions. The same held for the women’s level of acculturation, as measured by the Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics, which measures such factors as residents’ generation, time of residence in the U.S., age at arrival where applicable and ethnic self-identification.
Age and marital status, however, had a stronger bearing on screening history, with women 41 and older being 11 times more likely to obtain cervical cancer screening than women 40 and younger. Married women were 5 times more likely to have been screened than single women.
Although women in the study with health insurance were more likely to be screened, a significant number of these women — 24 percent — still went unscreened. “I expected a larger portion of women who had health insurance to have had cervical cancer screening, but about a fourth of them hadn’t received screening.” That finding deserves further investigation, says Peña.
See “Understanding why so few Hispanic women get screened for cervical cancer” (June 27, 2024)
