title: Cervical screening rates for women vaccinated against human papillomavirus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare cervical screening rates for women vaccinated with a quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine with those for unvaccinated women, to address concerns that vaccinated women may not be participating in cervical screening.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis of linked data from the Victorian Cervical Cytology Registry and the National HPV Vaccination Program Register for 20-29-year-old women in Victoria, Australia, for the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Screening participation rates for vaccinated and unvaccinated women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participation in cervical screening during the 2-year period 2010-2011 was significantly lower in 20-24-year-old vaccinated women compared with unvaccinated women of the same age (37.6% v 47.7%, a 10.1 percentage point difference [95% CI, 9.7-10.6]; P < 0.001) and significantly lower in 25-29-year-old vaccinated women compared with unvaccinated women of the same age (45.2% v 58.7%, a 13.5 percentage point difference [95% CI, 13.1%-13.9%]; P < 0.001). Similar results were observed for participation during the 3-year period 2009-2011.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite education messages provided to young women, our results suggest that vaccinated women are being screened at lower rates than unvaccinated women in Australia. While some degree of undermatching of women in the study may have occurred, this cannot wholly explain our findings. Effective implementation of Individual Healthcare Identifiers to health records, including registry records, is needed to prevent potential undermatching of individuals in future linkage studies. In the meantime, efforts to increase participation in cervical screening by vaccinated women are needed.
authors.affiliation: Cancer and Screening Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, ACT, Australia. msaville@vcs.org.au.
authors.forename: Alison C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Budd
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Julia M L
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brotherton
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Dorota M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Gertig
authors.affiliation: Cancer and Screening Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chau
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Kelly T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Drennan
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saville
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines; D012042:Registries; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines