Department of Sociology, Sungkyunkwan University, 25-2 Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Health Systems and Population Health, Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, University of Washington, 3980 15th Avenue NE, 4th Floor, UW Mailbox, Seattle, WA, 351621, USA.
BMC Womens Health. 2021 Dec 15;21(1):414. doi: 10.1186/s12905-021-01558-0.
Research on the relationship between medical tourism-traveling abroad for healthcare and cervical cancer screening is lacking. This study examines (1) the association between medical tourism and cervical cancer screening among immigrant women and (2) whether the association varies across years in the U.S.
We analyzed the New Immigrant Survey data of immigrant women aged 21-65 (n = 999). The outcome was having had a Pap smear since becoming a permanent resident, and the main predictor was medical tourism. Logistic regressions were conducted.
Immigrant women who engaged in medical tourism had higher cervical cancer screening rates compared to those who did not engage in medical tourism (84.09% vs. 71.68%). This relationship was statistically significant only among women who have recently immigrated, after controlling for covariates.
Immigrant women who engaged in medical tourism had 2.18 higher odds of receiving a Pap smear than immigrant women who did not, after controlling for other covariates. Health educators should be aware of the practice of medical tourism and consider providing education on adherence to cancer screening guidelines and follow up abnormal results to ensure that immigrant women receive continuous cancer care.
关于医疗旅游（出国就医）与宫颈癌筛查之间关系的研究较少。本研究考察了（1）医疗旅游与移民妇女宫颈癌筛查之间的关联，以及（2）这种关联在美国的不同年份是否存在差异。
我们分析了年龄在 21-65 岁之间的移民妇女的新移民调查数据（n=999）。因变量为成为永久居民后接受巴氏涂片检查的情况，主要预测指标为医疗旅游。采用 logistic 回归进行分析。
与没有进行医疗旅游的移民妇女相比，进行过医疗旅游的移民妇女宫颈癌筛查率更高（84.09%对 71.68%）。在控制了其他协变量后，这种关系仅在最近移民的妇女中具有统计学意义。
在控制了其他协变量后，进行过医疗旅游的移民妇女接受巴氏涂片检查的几率比没有进行医疗旅游的移民妇女高 2.18 倍。健康教育工作者应意识到医疗旅游的做法，并考虑提供关于遵循癌症筛查指南和随访异常结果的教育，以确保移民妇女获得持续的癌症护理。
