Evaluating the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening invitation letters

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an invitation letter on cervical screening participation among unscreened women 30 to 69 years of age. Methods: A cluster randomized trial design was used in which unscreened women (n=31,452) were randomized by the forward sortation area (FSA) of their postal code to an intervention group that was sent an invitation letter (n=17,068) or a group that was not sent an invitation letter (n=14,384). Results: Six months after the letters were mailed, 1,010 women in the intervention group (5.92%) and 441 women in the control group (3.06%) had a Pap test. After adjusting for variables that have previously shown to influence screening participation, women who were sent an invitation letter were significantly more likely to have had a Pap test in the next 6 months compared with women who were not sent an invitation letter (odds ratio [OR]=2.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.09-3.35, p<0.001). Overall, the effectiveness of the invitation letter improved with increasing age (p=0.02). Conclusions: Sending invitation letters increased cervical screening participation but because the overall effect was small, additional strategies that remove barriers to screening for unscreened women are also necessary. Show more