A new study shows African-American women living in areas with high poverty rates are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer, even after adjusting for other factors known to raise the risk of non-screening, such as older age, lower educational attainment, and smoking.

Disparities in screening rates are seen among different ethnicities, and often blamed on individual factors, such as lack of access to regular healthcare, older age, obesity, and health status. A few studies now show that community and state poverty level factors contribute to low screening rates among black women.

Harvard researchers investigated the relationship between individual characteristics and larger socioeconomic factors and their impact on recent cervical cancer screening rates.

The investigators found that after taking into account individual factors, for instance in a community where at least 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, there was a significant predictor of failure to receive cervical cancer screening using the Pap test.

Geetanjali Dabral Datta, Sc.D, says, "The study adds to the literature by demonstrating that [community] and state factors influence cervical cancer screening behaviors above and beyond individual factors."