Impact of English language proficiency on receipt of pap smears among Hispanics.
Our aim was to assess the impact of English language proficiency on Pap smear use among Hispanics. We performed a cross-sectional study using 2000 National Health Interview Survey data and included 2,331 Hispanic women, age >/=18 without a hysterectomy. After adjusting for sociodemographic and access factors, highly proficient English speakers were more likely to report a Pap smear in the past 3 years as compared to low proficient (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 1.22). Also associated with Pap smear use were income, usual source of care, and health insurance. Our finding suggests that low English language proficiency is a barrier to receiving recent Pap smears among Hispanics.
De Alba
Israel
I
Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Center for Health Policy and Research, University of California, Irvine, California.idealba@uci.edu
Sweningson
Jamie M
JM
Chandy
Christa
C
Hubbell
F Allan
FA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*