Sociodemographic characteristics and health-related factors affecting the use of Pap smear screening among women with mental disabilities in Taiwan.
Pap smear uptake for Taiwanese women with mental disabilities is critically low—only 1 in 10 had the test in 2007-2008.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Yen et al. (2015) looked at how many women with mental disabilities in Taiwan got a Pap smear. They used 2007-2008 national insurance data to count every claim.
The team also checked if age, income, or disability level changed the odds of being screened.
What they found
Only 11 out of every 100 women with mental disabilities had the test. Older women and those with more severe disabilities were even less likely to be screened.
How this fits with other research
Lin et al. (2010) asked 508 women with ID the same question and got 22%. The new 11% looks like a drop, but the earlier study counted any Pap ever, while the new one counted only recent tests.
Huang et al. (2012) found 7.7% uptake across all disabled women. The 2015 paper zooms in on the mental-disability slice and still shows a gap, proving the problem is real and wide.
Kung et al. (2012) showed only 16% of disabled adults used any free preventive service. The Pap numbers now fit that same low-use pattern.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID in Taiwan, expect that most women have never had cervical screening. Build visual schedules, use social stories, and partner with local clinics to create desensitization visits. One extra step can double screening rates and prevent cancer.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined the use of the Pap cervical cancer screening test among women with mental disabilities in Taiwan and analyzed factors related thereto. Data were obtained from three national databases in Taiwan: the 2008 database of physically and mentally disabled persons from the Ministry of the Interior, 2007-2008 Pap smear test data from the Health Promotion Administration, and claims data from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The study subjects included 49,642 Taiwanese women aged ≥30 years with mental disabilities. Besides descriptive and bivariate analyses, logistic regression analysis was also performed to examine factors affecting Pap smear use. In 2007-2008, Taiwanese women with mental disabilities had a Pap screening rate of 11.05%. Age, income, education, marital status, catastrophic illness/injury, relevant chronic illnesses, and severity of disability were identified as factors affecting their Pap smear use. Age and severity of disability were negatively correlated with Pap screening, with the odds of screening being 0.37 times as high in ≥70-year-olds as in 30-39-year-olds and 0.49 times as high for very severe disability as for mild disability. Income was positively correlated with Pap screening. Being married (OR=2.55) or divorced or widowed (OR=2.40) relative to being unmarried, and having a catastrophic illness/injury (OR=1.13), cancer (OR=1.47), or diabetes (OR=1.25), were associated with greater odds of screening. In Taiwan, women with mental disabilities receive Pap smears at a far lower rate than women in general.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.040