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Self-Reported Cervical Cancer Screening by Race/Ethnicity, New Jersey, 2012 to 2020

Indicator Report Data View Options

  • **Percentages based on fewer than 50 completed surveys and/or relative standard error (RSE) > 30% are not shown because they do not meet the CDC BRFSS standard for data release.
  • NAData not available

Why Is This Important?

Cervical cancer is one of the most curable cancers if detected early through routine screening. Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by infection with high-risk types of the human papillomavirus (HPV). The HPV vaccine protects against the HPV types that most often cause cervical cancer. Women who have had an HPV vaccine still need to have routine Pap smears because the vaccine does not fully protect against all the strains of the virus and other risk factors that can cause cervical cancer. HPV is transmitted through sexual contact. Any woman who is sexually active is at risk for developing cervical cancer. Other risk factors include giving birth to many children, having sexual relations at an early age, having multiple sex partners or partners with many other partners, cigarette smoking, and use of oral contraceptives. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for cervical cancer every 3 years with cervical cytology alone in women aged 21 to 29 years. For women aged 30 to 65 years, the USPSTF recommends screening every 3 years with cervical cytology alone, every 5 years with high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing alone, or every 5 years with hrHPV testing in combination with cytology (cotesting).

Definition

Estimated percentage of women ages 21-65 years who have had a Pap test in the past three years. All prevalence estimates are age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population.

Data Notes

Data have been age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population.

Data Source

Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, Center for Health Statistics, New Jersey Department of Health
(http://www.nj.gov/health/chs/njbrfs/)

How the Measure is Calculated

  • Numerator:

    The number of women ages 21-65 years who reported having a Pap test in the last three years.

  • Denominator:

    The total number of female survey respondents ages 21-65 years excluding those who responded "don't know" or "refused" to the numerator question.

Data Issues

Data from the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey are intended to be representative of all non-institutionalized adult residents of New Jersey. Due to resource issues, however, adults with limited personal access to phone service or limited command of either English or Spanish are not represented. As with all surveys, also, some error results from nonresponse (e.g., refusal to participate in the survey or to answer specific questions), and faulty measurement (e.g., responses affected by social desirability or recall error). Data collection procedures intended to minimize such errors include the use of strict calling protocols, good questionnaire design, standardization of interviewer behavior, interviewer training, and frequent, on-site interviewer monitoring and supervision. Statistical weighting procedures are also used to minimize the potential impact of disproportionate representation of demographic subgroups defined in terms of age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, marital status, home ownership, and county of residence. (See also [[a href="query/BRFSSQueryTechNotes.html" Behavioral Risk Factor Survey Data Description and Technical Notes]].)

Related Health Objectives and Indicators




  • Health Initiative: HNJ2020

    Healthy NJ 2020 Objective CA-14

    NJ Target: Increase cervical cancer screening to 93.6 percent (age-adjusted) for the total population, 79.8% for Asians, 99.3% for Blacks, 94.7% for Hispanics, and 94.9% for Whites by 2020.0
    https://www.nj.gov/health/chs/hnj2020/topics/cancer.shtml




Health Care System Factors

See [https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/cervical-cancer-screening] for cervical cancer screening recommendations. Health care system factors that are positively associated with self-report of cervical cancer screening according to current guidelines include having adequate '''health care coverage''' and '''visiting a doctor or obstetrician/gynecologist (OB/GYN) in the past 12 months'''. ([https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6093265/ Hall et al., 2018]) Note: [[a href="query/builder/njbrfs/PapTest/PapTestAA11_.html" Custom data views]] of the estimated prevalence of adherence to cervical cancer screening guidelines among New Jersey women by selected '''sociodemographic and other characteristics''' (including '''health care coverage''' and '''visiting a doctor in the past 12 months''') can be generated using the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey interactive query module.

Related Health Care System Factors Indicators:

Risk Factors

Factors that are negatively associated with self-report of cervical cancer screening according to current guidelines include having '''less than a high school education''', being a '''US resident for less than 10 years''', and being '''non-Hispanic Asian'''. ([https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6093265/ Hall et al., 2018]) Note: [[a href="query/builder/njbrfs/PapTest/PapTestAA11_.html" Custom data views]] of the estimated prevalence of adherence to cervical cancer screening guidelines among New Jersey women by selected '''sociodemographic and other characteristics''' (including '''education level''', '''immigration status''', and '''race/ethnicity''') can be generated using the New Jersey Behavioral Risk Factor Survey interactive query module.

Related Risk Factors Indicators:

Health Status Outcomes

See [https://www.cancer.gov/types/cervical/hp/cervical-screening-pdq#_1] for benefits and harms of cervical cancer screening. See [https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/cervix.html] for the current cervical cancer five-year survival rate.

Related Health Status Outcomes Indicators:

Health Topic Pages Related to: Self-Reported Cervical Cancer Screening

Indicator Data Last Updated On 05/24/2024, Published on 03/06/2025
Center for Health Statistics, New Jersey Department of Health, PO Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625-0360, e-mail: chs@doh.nj.gov (https://www.nj.gov/health/chs)