Use of the Pap test by a population group in Buenos Aires

The study reported here sought to assess Pap test coverage of a group of asymptomatic Argentine women from the poor urban district of La Matanza in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area Initially, all 2495 women who voluntarily enrolled in a program for early detection of breast cancer between January 1991 and June 1993 were included. After removing those who did not meet various study criteria, there remained 779 study subjects with no gynecologic or mammary symptomatology. Two subgroups of these 779 were established-women who had received a Pap test at any time and those who had received such a test within the previous three years. Using these subgroups, the influence of certain sociodemographic and other variables upon the likelihood of Pap testing was assessed. The results indicated significant associations between past Pap testing and age, formal education, parity, and a family history of cancer Likewise, significant associations were found between Pap testing within the preceding three years and age, formal education, and parity. The study findings affirm the idea that it would be advisable to seek Pap testing for all study population women once every three years instead of every year. Since the study population was not necessarily representative of Buenos Aires population, however, and the findings could have been affected by self-selection and other biases, additional studies are needed to determine actual Pap test coverage among women of the metropolitan area.