Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Cervix cancer screening among Greek and immigrant women: the experience of a Greek District Hospital
Purpose: To explore whether there are differences in Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening between native and immigrant women that attended our outpatient clinic. Methods: In this retrospective study, from January 2002 until December 2003 we examined age, nationality, marital status, economic status (self-reported family income per year) and previous Pap test screening frequency; 3,316 women were included in the study. Results: The average age was 41.95 years. The majority of the women who had had a Pap test (58.4%) were Greeks and 41.6% immigrants. Regarding marital status a percentage of 61.2% were married, 13.7% were single and 24.9% were divorced. Regarding economic status 71.0% of the women had a low-income, 25.1 % a middle-income and 3.8% a high-income. Of the women 24.99% had never had a Pap test in their lives. Discussion/Conclusion: The possibility of having easy access to a clinic and to routine health care has a critical influence on the cancer screening habits of immigrant women. Opportunistic Pap smear screening as part of a pregnancy or family-planmning checkupin local clinics is an acceptable strategy for poor immigrant women.