Factors associated with the achievement of cervical smears by general practitioners

Michaël Rochoy (1) , Thibaut Raginel (2, 3, 4) , Jonathan Favre (1) , Estelle Soueres (1) , Nassir Messaadi (1) , Valérie Deken (5) , Alain Duhamel (5) , Christophe Berkhout (1)

1 Faculté de Médecine Henri Warembourg - Université de Lille
2 ANTICIPE - Unité de recherche interdisciplinaire pour la prévention et le traitement des cancers
3 UNICAEN Santé - Université de Caen Normandie - UFR Santé
4 Service de Médecine générale [CHU Caen]
5 METRICS - Evaluation des technologies de santé et des pratiques médicales - ULR 2694

OBJECTIVE: Reliable data about general practitioners performing pap-tests are insufficient. A claim code for the achievement of pap-smears exists in France, but its use by general practitioners is not known. The main purpose of this study was to highlight independent factors associated with the achievement of pap-smears by the general practitioner (GP). We carried out a descriptive and analytic epidemiologic study in 347 GPs and their 244,889 patients, registered at the Health Care Insurance Fund of Flanders. The European Deprivation Index (EDI) in the area of GP's surgeries was specified. All GPs were questioned by telephone about their performance of pap-tests. The claim database of the insurance fund was analyzed to describe characteristics of GPs. RESULTS: The answer rate among questioned GPs was 98.8%. Pap-smears were performed in their surgeries by 182 GPs (53.1%). Among males, 45.7% performed pap-smears versus 78.4% of the female (adjusted odds-ratio = 4.5, p < 0.001). The mean rate of screened women in the target population was 44% when GPs were performing smears versus 42% when they were not (adjusted odds-ratio = 1.04, p = 0.03). Only 19.5% of GPs used the claim code. The number of patients, and the EDI were not associated with pap-smears. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02749110 (April 22, 2016).

Mots clés: Vaginal smears; Uterine cervical neoplasms; Early detection of cancer; Mass screening; Physicians; Primary care

Domaines: Gynécologie et obstétrique; Cancer

Michaël Rochoy, Thibaut Raginel, Jonathan Favre, Estelle Soueres, Nassir Messaadi, et al.. Factors associated with the achievement of cervical smears by general practitioners. BMC Research Notes, 2017, 10 (1), pp.723. ⟨10.1186/s13104-017-2999-5⟩. ⟨inserm-02078100⟩