Notifying women of the results of their cervical smear tests by mail: does it result in a decreased loss to follow‐up of abnormal smears?

Abstract

Abstract: We undertook a prospective randomised intervention study of the proportions of women with abnormal cytology results who were lost to follow‐up in 42 general practices in urban and rural Queensland over 26 weeks. Practices in the intervention group were provided with a redesigned cervical smear request form that allowed patients to provide an address for direct notification from the laboratory by mail. Satisfaction questionnaires sent to the general practitioners in the intervention group showed that most made at least some use of direct notification, and most felt it was worthwhile. For women with an initial result of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), there was a loss to follow‐up of 23 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) 11 to 39) among the control group compared to none in the intervention group (upper CI 7 per cent), a highly significant difference (P < 0.001). Mailing cervical screening results to women may reduce the loss to follow‐up of those with CIN findings. 1995 Public Health Association of Australia