title: Prevalence of self-reported hysterectomy among Canadian women, 2000/2001-2008.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hysterectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures among Canadian women. The consequence is a population that no longer requires cervical cancer screening. The objective of our analysis was to provide more accurate estimates of eligible participation in cervical screening by estimating the age-specific prevalence of hysterectomy among Canadian women aged 20 to 69 by province and territory between 2000/2001 and 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported hysterectomy prevalence was obtained from the 2000/2001, 2003 and 2008 Canadian Community Health Survey. Age-specific prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for Canada and provinces and territories for the three time periods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interprovincial variations in hysterectomy prevalence were observed among women in each age group and time period. Among women aged 50 to 59, prevalence was as high as 35.1% (95% CI: 25.8-44.3) (p<.01) in 2008 and appeared to decrease in all provinces from 2000/2001 to 2008.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interprovincial and time period variation suggest that using hysterectomy prevalence to adjust the population eligible for cervical cancer screening may be helpful to inform more comparable screening participation rates. In addition, both cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates can be adjusted by hysterectomy to ensure estimates across time and provinces and territories are also comparable.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stankiewicz
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pogany
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's Health, Memorial University, St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popadiuk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cervical cancer screening participation rates; hysterectomy epidemiology; hysterectomy prevalence