Use of screening and preventive services among women with disabilities

Roughly 54 million Americans have some disability; at older ages, women are more likely to be disabled than men. Many people with disabilities today l ive virtually normal life spans, and therefore routine screening and preven tive services are essential to their overall quality of care. We used the 1 994-1995 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), with Disability, Family R esources, and Healthy People 2000 supplements, to examine screening and pre ventive service use for adult women with disabilities living in the communi ty-about 18.4% of women (estimated 18.28 million). Disability was associate d with higher age adjusted rates of: poverty; living alone; low education; inability to work; obesity; and being frequently depressed or anxious. Disa bled women generally reported screening and preventive services at rates co mparable to all women. Women with major lower extremity mobility difficulti es had much lower adjusted odds of Papanicolaou smears (odds ratio, 0.6; 95 % confidence interval, 0.4-0.9), mammograms (odds ratio, 0.7; 95% confidenc e interval, 0.5-0.9), and smoking queries (odds ratio, 0.6; 95% confidence interval, 0.5-0.8). Various approaches exist to improve access for disabled women to health care services.