Cervical cancer screening overuse and underuse: patient and physician factors

Despite recommendations for triennial cervical cancer screening for low-risk women 30 years and older, annual screening remains common. We studied how often women receiving care from an academically affiliated medical group were screened, and patient and provider factors associated with overuse and underuse. We also explored the impact of changing measurement intervals on computed screening frequency.

The study included women 30 years and older continuously enrolled over a 3-year period and excluded women with history of abnormal screening and conditions of high risk for cervical cancer.

Administrative and laboratory data were merged to link Papanicolaou (pap) test results with patient and ordering provider characteristics. We used logistic regression to analyze multivariate models for overuse and underuse, and modified measurement intervals to test sensitivity to early and late pap smears.

The 8018 women had a mean age of 48years and 95% had an ambulatory physician visit during the observation period. Thirty-four percent of women received guideline-based screening, 45% had overuse, and 21% had underuse. Factors independently associated with overuse included younger age, more medical visits, contraceptive management visits, and gynecology provider specialty. Underuse was associated with older age, fewer medical visits, and increased comorbidity.Overuse was 47% if unsatisfactory paps were not considered and was reduced to 35% if the observation interval was reduced from 36 to 30 months.

Overuse and underuse of cervical cancer screening are common and clinician and patient factors are identifiable to target quality improvement interventions. Modifying the measurement interval may improve the measure.