Study reveals lower rates of pap smear tests among lesbians

NEW studies presented at the Australasian Sexual Health Conference in Sydney last week revealed a consistent proportion of lesbian and bisexual women never receiving the routine pap smear test.

The study explored testing rates, changes in testing between 2002 and 2012, and predictors of test attendance among lesbian, bisexual and queer women in NSW.

It found that women who have never had sex with a man are almost three times less likely to have ever had a pap smear, despite campaigns and national guidelines stating all women who have ever had sex should have regular screening.

Medical experts warned this could leave them at increased risk of cervical cancer.

“The results of this study are concerning,” said lead researcher Dr Julie Mooney-Somers, from the University of Sydney’s Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine.

“Routine Papanicolaou (pap smear) tests have been very successful at reducing cervical cancer. Like all women, lesbian and bisexual women should be testing regularly.

“While we didn’t find the significant testing disparity between lesbian and heterosexual women reported in other countries, the lower rate of screening among women with no sexual history with men is something we need to address urgently.”

Mooney-Somers added that more work was needed to understand these lower rates of screening and what needed be done to change it.

A relationship between STI testing and pap smear testing was also shown.

“We’ve found that for a significant minority of lesbian and bisexual women, sexual or reproductive health is not part of their health care experience,” Mooney-Somers said.

“Even if women have no need to discuss contraception with their GP, aren’t on the contraceptive pill for other reasons or don’t need testing for or advice on preventing STIs, we need to find other opportunities to talk about pap smear tests.”

Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among women worldwide. In Australia, women are encouraged to have routine pap smears, which identify pre-cancers before they can turn into an invasive cancer.

The vast majority of women diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer have not had regular pap smear tests or were never screened.

The NSW incidence of cervical cancer has almost halved since the introduction of the NSW Cervical Screening Program in 1991 and mortality rates have decreased.