ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Omer Atac, MD, PhD; Lars E. Peterson, MD, PhD; Teresa M. Waters, PhD
Corresponding Author: Omer Atac, MD, PhD; Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky
Email: omer.atac@uky.edu
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2024.240243R1
Keywords: Cervical Cancer, COVID-19, Cross-Sectional Studies, Early Detection of Cancer, Long-Term Effects, Pandemics, Primary Health Care, Screening, Preventive Care, Retrospective Studies
Dates: Submitted: 06-21-2024; Revised: 09-23-2024; Accepted: 10-07-2024
Status: In production for ahead of print.
INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus disease pandemic has reduced the number of elective in-person visits to primary care practices. This study examined how the pandemic may have affected cervical cancer (CC) screening rates in primary care settings across the United States.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study using data from the PRIME Registry of the American Board of Family Medicine from March 15, 2017 to March 14, 2022. We included 2,207,355 women aged 21–65 years who had visited a clinician (n = 1,052) from any of 472 primary care practices. We compared CC screening rates among eligible women during in-person visits over the three pre-pandemic years with those during the two years of the pandemic.
RESULTS: Screening rates decreased from 1.85 to 1.12 in the 1st quarter of the first year and remained lower throughout both years of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic year, had not returned to prepandemic levels by the end of the second year. Hispanic or Latino (odds ratio [OR] = 1.96) and Black or African American (OR = 1.37) women were more likely to be screened, whereas those receiving care from male clinicians (OR = 0.34) were less likely to be screened.
CONCLUSIONS: CC screening rates remained below pre-pandemic levels throughout the 2 years of the pandemic. Policymakers and healthcare professionals should strategize approaches to enhance CC screening rates, including the exploration of alternative methods, such as home-based CC screening. New screening approaches are needed to ensure preparedness for future health crises