City women with learning disabilities miss key test
LESS than a third of women with a learning disability in Glasgow were given a life-saving test for cervical cancer last year, figures show.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde data shows 29.1 per cent of women registered as learning disabled attended for cervical smear tests from 2017-2018, compared to 72.1 per cent for the rest of the female population within the board area.
A total of 508 women eligible for a test were screened out of a possible 1848 alhtough the figure was slightly higher than the previous year, when only 24.9 per cent (399) of women were screened out of a possible 1600.
Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of Public Health for NHSGGC, the author of the report, said improvements were needed in relation to the recording of learning disabilities by GP practices to help reduce screening inequalities.
Around six women in Scotland are diagnosed with cervical cancer every week. Cervical screening is thought to save around 5000 lives every year in the UK.
Women aged 25 to 49 are invited every three years and women aged 50 to 64 are invited every five years.
Earlier this month, research emerged showing that the routine vaccination of girls with the HPV vaccine in Scotland has led to a “dramatic” drop in cervical disease in later life.
Human papilomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection and some types are linked to cervical cancer.
Researchers said the vaccine has nearly wiped out cases of cervical pre-cancer in young women since an immunisation programme was introduced 10 years ago.
They found the vaccine had led to a 90 per cent cut in pre-cancerous cells.
The report shows screening uptake for other cancers and life-threatening conditions was also considerably lower amongst men and women with learning disabilities.
In 2017-18 2414 of the 363,302 individuals eligible for bowel cancer screening were registered with a learning disability. Uptake was 34 per cent compared to 52.3 per cent in the rest of the population.
Men with a learning disability were also less likely to be screened for Abdominal Aortic Aneurisms – 68.8 per cent compared to 81.4 per cent.
The paper concluded: “Further work is required to ensure consistency and quality of data in relation to recording of learning disabilities and to agree how data will be extracted and used from practice systems to enable this to continue to be used to identify and address any inequalities in screening uptake.”
‘‘ A total of 508 women eligible for a test were screened out of a possible 1848