Cervical Cancer Knowledge and Screening among Latinas

U.S. Latinas have lower cervical cancer (CC) screening rates (75% screened within the past 3 years) compared to Healthy People 2020 goals (93% of women screened). Latinas’ low screening rates stem from barriers such as language, access to health care, and lack of insurance and knowledge—studies even found that Latinos have not heard of and cannot identify the human papillomavirus (HPV) as a risk factor for developing CC. These barriers have contributed to Latinas having the highest incidence rate and second-highest CC mortality rate in the U.S.

This study examines knowledge of HPV, knowledge of federal CC screening guidelines, and screening behavior among 600 Latina women enrolled in a cancer prevention program that conducts culturally tailored educational sessions on cancer, risk factors, and screening tests.

Enrolled women are a mean age of 46 + 11.7 and most speak primarily Spanish (58%), do not have health insurance (82%), and have <  a high school education (66%) and an annual household income < $20,000 (86%). Preliminary analyses suggest that 57% of women have not heard of HPV, 68% are not aware of the federal screening guidelines, and 67% are not screened within the guidelines (i.e., it has been more than 3 years since their last Pap test). Final analyses will present results of logistic regression models examining the association between knowledge of HPV and federal CC screening guidelines with CC screening behavior. We will discuss how findings can help inform development of interventions to improve CC screening rates in Latinas.