Follow-Up Cervical Cancer Screening After Benign and Low-Grade Colposcopy

This study was aimed to evaluate follow-up after benign or low-grade colposcopic findings and identify the factors associated with delayed care.

The authors completed a retrospective study to evaluate follow-up for patients with benign or low-grade colposcopy findings over a 4-year period at a single institution. Demographics as well as cotesting and pathology results were abstracted. Descriptive statistics and bivariate associations were completed.

Of 393 patients, 20.6% had an on-time follow-up. The majority of patients (50.4%) had delayed follow-up, with a mean time to repeat evaluation of 27.6 months. There were no differences in follow-up cytology and human papillomavirus test results between those patients who followed up within 12 months and those who were evaluated later. Tobacco nonsmoking and initial biopsy with indeterminate findings were associated with on-time follow-up.

This study demonstrated significant delays in follow-up after colposcopy, consistent with prior work showing insufficient cervical cancer screening and prevention nationally. Improving follow-up times and rates will likely depend on addressing barriers that impact access to care.