Women's Health Highlights [3]: Cervical Cancer - Recent Findings (continued)

Women's Health Highlights: Recent Findings
Cervical Cancer

* Many young women have not received the HPV vaccine.

This survey found that more than 60 percent of 1,011 young women aged 13 to 26 years knew about Gardasil®, the vaccine against human pappiloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer. However, only 30 percent of those aged 13 to 17 and 9 percent of those aged 18-26 had received the vaccine. Because the vaccine is most beneficial when given before young women become sexually active, the authors urge practitioners and parents to step up efforts to educate young women about the importance of receiving the vaccine early. Caskey, Lindau, and Alexander, J Adolesc Health 45(5):453-462, 2009 (AHRQ grant HS15699).

* Less than 25 percent of physicians report guideline-consistent recommendations for cervical cancer screening.

Researchers used a large, nationally representative sample of primary care physicians to identify current Pap test screening practices in 2006-2007. They used clinical vignettes to describe women by age and sexual and screening history to elicit physicians' recommendations. Guideline-consistent recommendations varied by physician specialty: obstetrics/gynecology 16.4 percent, internal medicine 27.5 percent, and family/general practice 21.1 percent. Yabroff, Saraiya, Mesisner, et al., Ann Intern Med 151(9):602-611, 2009 (AHRQ grant HS10565).

* A majority of older women think lifelong cervical cancer screening is important.

Researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with 199 women aged 65 and older to determine their views about continuing to receive Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer. Most of the women were minorities, and about 45 percent were Asian. Despite recent changes in clinical recommendations to stop Pap screening in women older than 65, more than two thirds of the women in this study felt that lifelong screening was either important or very important. Most of the women (77 percent) planned on being screened for the rest of their lives. Sawaya, Iwaoka-Scott, Kim, et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol 200(1):40.e1-40.e7, 2009. See also Huang, Perez-Stable, Kim, et al., J Gen Intern Med 23(9):1324-1329, 2008 (AHRQ grant HS10856).

* Instituting new processes can reduce diagnostic errors in Pap smear interpretation.

Lean methods are used to weigh the expenditure of resources against value received. For this study, researchers compared the diagnostic accuracy of Pap tests procured by five clinicians before (5,384 controls) and after (5,442 cases) implementing a process redesign using Lean methods. Following process redesign, there was a significant improvement in Pap smear quality, and the case group showed a 114 percent increase in newly detected cervical intraepithelial cancer following a previous benign Pap test. Raab, Andrew-Jaja, Grzybicki, et al, J Low Genit Tract Dis 12(2):103-110, 2008 (AHRQ grant HS13321).

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Women's Health Highlights: Recent Findings (continued)