Colposcopy attendance and deprivation: A retrospective analysis of 27 193 women in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme

Abstract

Attendance for cervical screening is socially graded, but little is known about patterns of attendance for colposcopy following an abnormal screening result.Methods:Logistic regression was used to regress colposcopy attendance status for 27 193 women against age and area-level deprivation, adjusting for ethnicity.Results:Colposcopy attendance was high at 8 weeks (89%) and 4 months post-referral (94%) but women living in the most deprived areas were significantly less likely to attend.Conclusions:The high overall attendance rates at colposcopy are encouraging but lower attendance among women in the most income-deprived areas indicates that even when these women attend primary cervical screening, they remain at higher risk of missing out on the benefits of the programme.