Wednesday, January 4, 2006—Black women who live in poor neighborhoods are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer than women living in more affluent areas, researchers find.

The reason for the lower rate of screening isn’t clear, and the researchers note that other factors linked to lower screening rates, such as older age or lower education, don’t seem to play a role.

“Even among women who were professionals or who were educated, they, too, had decreased screening if they lived in neighborhoods with high poverty,” says study author Geetanjali Dabral Datta, a postgraduate fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The report appears in the Feb. 1 issue of Cancer.

Additional resources:
Full story