CMAJ • August 28, 2007; 177 (5). doi:10.1503/cmaj.070013.
© 2007 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Research

Research letter

Feasibility of self-collection of specimens for human papillomavirus testing in hard-to-reach women

Gina Ogilvie, MD MSc, Mel Krajden, MD, Juanita Maginley, RN, Judy Isaac-Renton, MD, Greg Hislop, MDCM MSc, Ruth Elwood-Martin, MD, Chris Sherlock, MB, Darlene Taylor, BSN and Michael Rekart, MD

From the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (Ogilvie, Krajden, Maginley, Isaac-Renton, Taylor, Rekart); the British Columbia Cancer Agency (Hislop); the Department of Family Practice (Elwood-Martin), University of British Columbia; and Providence Health Care (Sherlock), Vancouver, BC

Correspondence to: Dr. Gina Ogilvie, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Associate Director, Division of STI/HIV Prevention and Control, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Ave., Vancouver BC V5Z 4R4; fax 604 775-0808; gina.ogilvie{at}bccdc.ca

To study the feasibility of self-collected specimens for testing human papillomavirus (HPV) status among hard-to-reach women, outreach nurses recruited women in women's centres, shelters and alleys in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Of the 151 participants for whom samples were available, 43 (28.5%) tested positive for high-risk HPV. Outreach nurses were able to recontact 81.4% of the participants who tested positive and referred them for further testing. About 14% (21/151) of participants had never received a Papanicolaou smear in British Columbia, as compared with 8.3% (608/7336) of women in the BC general population (p < 0.05). This difference suggests that self-collection of specimens for HPV testing is a feasible method to reach women who have not previously participated in cervical cancer screening programs.


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