The socioeconomic status of women attending a New Zealand colposcopy clinic.
An analysis of a group of predominantly Caucasian women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 lesions seen at the Dunedin Hospital Colposcopy Clinic during a period when it was the only colposcopic service in the region, showed that patients in the lowest socioeconomic class, as judged by two parameters unique in New Zealand were overrepresented. This finding is in agreement with the social class gradient for cervical cancer and precursor lesions observed in other countries. Poverty, more liberal sexual activity and smoking may be factors in the genesis of cervical neoplasia amongst the women studied. In providing cervical smear facilities for at-risk women, special provision should be made for women in the lowest social stratum.
Chang
A R
AR
Department of Pathology, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003127:Colposcopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D012923:Social Class; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*