Papanicolaou (Pap) smears remain the primary screening test to help prevent cervical cancer. Nevertheless, many women do not receive regular Pap smears, (1) especially older women, uninsured women and women in some minority groups. (2) In June of 2006, the FDA approved the vaccine Gardasil, which was developed to prevent cervical cancers caused by the human papillomavirus. Many states have introduced legislation to require school-aged girls to be vaccinated, a move that has often been controversial. Conservative religious organizations have voiced the strongest objections, arguing that mandating the vaccine would promote sexual promiscuity among young girls. Currently, only Virginia has successfully passed legislation to make the vaccine mandatory for preteen girls.
What percentage of women age 18 and older have had a Pap test within the past three years?1
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal that at least 90 percent of women age 18 and older have received a Pap test in the past three years [Healthy People 2010 Objective 3-11b].
Data Source: Pap Smears (%), 2004
EXPLANATION:
This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population with a uterine cervix who reported that they have had a Pap smear within the past one to three years.
SOURCE:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2004, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp. The national number is the median of 49 states and the District of Columbia, excluding Hawaii. The 2004 data from Hawaii are not available as part of the 2004 BRFSS aggregate dataset. The overall state number for Hawaii is from 2004 BRFSS data on the state’s website. Hawaii State Department of Health, Health Statistics, 2004 State of Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, available at http://www.hawaii.gov/health/statistics/brfss/brfss2004/brfss04.html. Data for age at the national level are from 2004 and are from BRFSS (see above). Data for race/ethnicity and age are two-year averages from 2002 and 2004 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population. Note that data for race/ethnicity reported in the Asian/Pacific Islander column reflect only Asian data for 49 states and the District of Columbia and reflect only Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander data for Hawaii. A small number of states included the question in 2003. For those states, the data from 2003 are included and the data reported represent three-year averages (Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Wyoming). Data for race/ethnicity and age for Hawaii are reported as two-year averages from 2002-2003. National Center for Health Statistics, Health Data for All Ages: Health Care Access and Use, Health Status and Disability, and Health Conditions and Risk Factors Tables, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/health_data_for_all_ages.htm.