Determinants of the Receipt of Pap Smear Screening Among the Women with Intellectual Disability, 2004~2007

[[abstract]]Cervical cancer presently stands at the first place in the cancer incidence rate for domestic women, and the PAP smear screening is an effective way to find such cancer in early stage. Presently, there were very few researches available for the PAP smear screening for intellectual disability women in Taiwan. In this study, determinants and related factors for intellectual disability women age over 30 year-old to take the PAP smear screening from 2004 to 2007 were investigated. Outpatient claim data of the national health insurance of 2,312 subjects who had received screening in 2004 were followed to 2007 in order to find out the determinants and related factors of receiving the PAP smear screening. The results showed 699 women had taken the test every three years, and 588 women had received smear screening once in two years, and 358 subjects had participated the PAP smear screening every year. The age of subjects, severity of intellectual disability, suffering from catastrophic disease, hospital level, outpatient visit frequency, and participating adult health check were the determinants of receiving the PAP smear screening. From the research results, it was clear that the usage of the PAP smear screening by intellectual disability was still low as compared to that of general public, and many medical professional personnel still have the suspicion on the necessity of the check; however, intellectual disability women should still have the right to use the national health insurance as the general public so as to guarantee and protect their health