Who are the women who default from colposcopy clinics?

Abstract

Compliance at colposcopy clinics is an essential factor for effectiveness of a cervical screening programme. However, there is not enough research on women who default from the colposcopy clinic. In this study, we have looked at some of the factors which might influence non-attendance at colposcopy clinics. We found that women who were younger and nulliparous appeared to be at greater risk of non-attendance than older and parous women. Women tend to miss follow-up appointments rather than primary appoints and none of them missed treatment appointments. There was no relation between non-attendance and grade of the lesion. We were not able to assess other factors such as smoking, socio-economic status or marital status in this study due to inadequate documentation.

Dysplasia severity, but not experiences during colposcopy, predicts adherence to follow‐up colposcopy

“…This contrasts with other studies that have found that non-adherent women are more likely to be younger, unemployed, or pregnant than adherent women [9]. Another study found that non-adherent women were younger than adherent women, but found no differences in parity or histology result [35]. There were no associations between adherence to follow-up colposcopy and whether or not women underwent biopsy or LLETZ treatment during colposcopy in the present study.…”

Non‐uptake of colposcopy in a resource‐poor setting

“…Refusal of colposcopy services was significantly more common among younger and nulliparous women in the present study (P = 0.03 and P = 0.004, respectively), consistent with findings from highincome countries [4,9]. Concerns regarding future fertility and childbearing were the most common reasons for refusal of colposcopy in the present study; fears related to childbearing following colposcopy and subsequent cervical procedures are not unique to lowincome areas-having also been reported in high-resource countries [5,10].…”

An audit of colposcopy appointment processes in women with abnormal cervical cytology

“…In the literature, the default rate of colposcopy appointments varies widely, between 8% and 24%. [8][9][10][11] In this study, the default rate of initial colposcopy appointments (15.8%) was slightly higher than the NHSCSP 2004 minimum requirements (< 15%). In the United Kingdom, interventions including sending a detailed leaflet with a reminder letter regarding the appointment and pre-clinic telephone contact have proved to be practical and can effectively reduce the default rate.…”