Older Women's Willingness to Discontinue Papanicolaou Test Screening

摘要

id="p1">We surveyed our patients to assess their willingness to discontinue Papanicolaou testing. Our findings differ from those of previous studies, with 72% of our eligible respondents voicing willingness to discontinue screening. There may be many reasons for this, including linking the recommendation with the name of the patient's own physician. id="p-2">The Papanicolaou test is a simple, effective screening tool for the detection of cervical cancer. There are now consistent recommendations by the US Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the American Cancer Society (ACS) to discontinue screening most women at age 65 to 70.id="xref-ref-1-1" class="xref-bibr" href="#ref-1">1 id="p-3">The dramatic success of publicizing the benefits of screening and its role in reducing cervical cancer prevalence may have resulted in unwarranted patient eagerness for Papanicolaou tests. A national telephone survey about attitudes toward cancer screening found that only 43% of women would want to decrease the frequency of their Papanicolaou screening, even on the recommendation of their physicians.id="xref-ref-2-1" class="xref-bibr" href="#ref-2">2 A follow-up study found that 69% of surveyed women would continue annual Papanicolaou testing even if advised of the benefits of less intensive screening.id="xref-ref-3-1" class="xref-bibr" href="#ref-3">3 Only 35% of these women thought they would eventually stop screening, and of those, half thought they would not cease screening until age 80.