Factors relating to cervical screening in New South Wales, Australia

The aims of this paper were to describe the geographical variation in Pap s mear screening rates, standardised for age and adjusted for rates of hyster ectomies and to assess the sociodemographic and health care factors associa ted with the variation. The data used in the study were the percentage of w omen who had had Pap smears between the years 1990 and 1992 based on the re cords of the Australian Health Insurance Commission (HIC). The best predict ors of screening extracted from the model were the Index of Economic Resour ces and the proportion of women within each region who were born in non-Eng lish speaking countries. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All ri ghts reserved.