TY - JOUR
T1 - Non-attendance in cervical cancer screening among migrant women in Portugal
T2 - a cross-sectional study
AU - Marques, Patrícia
AU - Geraldes, Mariana
AU - Gama, Ana
AU - Heleno, Bruno
AU - Dias, Sónia
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The present publication was funded by Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia, IP national support through CHRC (UIDP/04923/2020).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/4/17
Y1 - 2022/4/17
N2 - Objectives: Cervical cancer has a high mortality rate among women worldwide. Although cervical cancer screening (CCS) is an effective strategy in reducing mortality of the disease, inequalities in accessing screening exist, particularly among migrant women. This study aims to characterize migrant women’s participation in CCS and determine factors associated with non-attendance to CCS. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on a web-based survey targeting adult migrant women living in Portugal was conducted. Prevalence of non-attendance to CCS was examined, and its associations with socioeconomic, migration-related, and health-related factors were determined using adjusted logistic regression models. Results: A total of 1100 migrant women were included in the study. Prevalence of CCS non-attendance was 24.5%. CCS non-attendance was associated with younger age, being born in Africa or Asia, being single/divorced/widowed, never having had a GP appointment in Portugal and not having regular gynecology appointments. Being born in South and Central America, shorter length of stay in Portugal, having had HPV vaccination, and not having children are associated with CCS attendance. Conclusion: These findings point out that an important percentage of migrant women do not attend CCS. Strategies to increase participation should be developed, considering the inequalities identified and designed to target the specific needs of migrant women to improve their CCS attendance and increase cervical cancer prevention.
AB - Objectives: Cervical cancer has a high mortality rate among women worldwide. Although cervical cancer screening (CCS) is an effective strategy in reducing mortality of the disease, inequalities in accessing screening exist, particularly among migrant women. This study aims to characterize migrant women’s participation in CCS and determine factors associated with non-attendance to CCS. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on a web-based survey targeting adult migrant women living in Portugal was conducted. Prevalence of non-attendance to CCS was examined, and its associations with socioeconomic, migration-related, and health-related factors were determined using adjusted logistic regression models. Results: A total of 1100 migrant women were included in the study. Prevalence of CCS non-attendance was 24.5%. CCS non-attendance was associated with younger age, being born in Africa or Asia, being single/divorced/widowed, never having had a GP appointment in Portugal and not having regular gynecology appointments. Being born in South and Central America, shorter length of stay in Portugal, having had HPV vaccination, and not having children are associated with CCS attendance. Conclusion: These findings point out that an important percentage of migrant women do not attend CCS. Strategies to increase participation should be developed, considering the inequalities identified and designed to target the specific needs of migrant women to improve their CCS attendance and increase cervical cancer prevention.
KW - early detection of cancer
KW - emigrants and immigrants
KW - reproductive health
KW - transients and migrants
KW - uterine cervical neoplasms
KW - women’s health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128424766&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/17455057221093034
DO - 10.1177/17455057221093034
M3 - Article
C2 - 35435057
AN - SCOPUS:85128424766
SN - 1745-5057
VL - 18
JO - Women's Health
JF - Women's Health
ER -