title: Impact of English language proficiency on receipt of pap smears among Hispanics.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Alba
authors.forename: Jamie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sweningson
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chandy
authors.forename: F Allan
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Hubbell
mesh_terms: 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*