A. Altová

Educational inequalities in cervical cancer screening participation in 24 European countries

Cervical cancer screening (CCS) is an important public health measure for early detection of cervical cancer and prevents a large proportion of cervical cancer deaths. However, participation in CCS is relatively low and varies substantially by country and socio-economic position. This study aimed to provide up-to-date participation rates and estimates on educational inequalities in CCS participation in 24 European countries with population-based CCS programmes. This was a cross-sectional study. Using data from the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) conducted in 2019, 80,479 women aged 25-64 years were included in the analyses. First, standardized participation rates and standardized participation rates by educational attainment were calculated for all 24 countries based on each country-specific screening programme organization. Second, a series of generalized logistic models was applied to assess the effect of education on CCS participation. Screening participation rates ranged from 34.1% among low-educated women in Romania to 97.1% among high-educated women in Finland. We observed that lower-educated women were less likely to attend CCS than their higher-educated counterparts. Largest educational gaps were found in Sweden (odds ratio [OR] = 6.36, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.89-10.35) and Poland (odds ratio = 5.80, 95% CI = 4.34-7.75). Population-based screening initiatives have successfully reduced participation differences between women with medium and high educational attainment in some countries; however, persistent disparities still exist between women with low and high levels of education. There is an urgent need to increase participation rates of CCS, especially among lower-educated women.

Barriers to the cervical cancer screening attendance among Czech women

Objective: The main aim of this study was to find specific barriers to cervical cancer screening attendance that Czech women declare. Furthermore, the objective was to find out whether there are differences between women who do and do not attend screening according to sociodemographic characteristics. Finally, we investigated whether women who do not attend the screening differ by sociodemographic characteristics in declaring particular barriers to attendance. Materials and methods: Data were collected using a representative questionnaire survey. The women were asked about their previous participation in the cervical cancer screening program. Those who did not attend screening in the past 2 years or those who do not (intend to) attend screening regularly were considered non-attendees. The non-attendees were then asked about their reasons for non-attendance in the screening. First, descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Second, the differences between the different groups of women were analyzed by Pearson's chi-squared independence test. Results: In the studied sample population (N = 902), 36.7% were considered non-attendees. Statistically significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics (age, education, marital status, household type) were observed between attendees and non-attendees. The three most common reasons for non-attendance were: “I do not experience any symptoms”, “fear of cancer diagnosis”, and “fear of the examination procedure”. Almost no differences in sociodemographic characteristics in the declaration of particular barriers to attendance were found. Conclusion: We observed differences between women who attended and those who did not attend the screening. However, sociodemographic characteristics do not play an important role once a woman decides not to attend the screening. Therefore, it is essential to communicate cancer prevention throughout the spectrum of Czech women. Key words: screening – cervical carcinoma – prevention – early detection of disease – barriers