Open AccessAccuracy of women's self-report of their last Pap smear.
Author(s) -
John Sawyer,
JoAnne Earp,
Robert H. Fletcher,
Fedora F. Daye,
Tonjam . Wynn
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.79.8.1036
Subject(s) - medicine , pap smears , family medicine , obstetrics , gynecology , demography , cervical cancer , cancer , sociology
We compared interview data and physician records on when women last had a Pap smear in a sample of 98 rural Black women. We found 20 per cent of women could not accurately report on whether a Pap smear had been done within three years (sensitivity = 0.95, specificity = 0.47). Source of gynecological care and perceived barriers to obtaining a Pap smear but not education were associated with inaccurate reports. Self-report may be a misleading measure of Pap smear screening in comparable groups of women.