Social and territorial inequalities in breast and cervical cancers screening uptake: a cross-sectional study in France

Objective The objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the impact of socio-territorial characteristics on mammography and pap smear uptake according to the place of residence in the recommended age groups, and second outside the recommended age groups. Setting and participants We used an existing dataset of 1 027 039 women which combines data from the Health Insurance information systems, with census data from Midi-Pyrenees, France. Primary and secondary outcome measures Our outcome was, for each woman, the uptake of the pap smear and the uptake of the mammography during the year. Results A social gradient of screening uptake was found in the recommended age groups. This gradient was stronger in large urban areas: (1) For mammography: decile 10 (the most deprived) vs 1 (the least deprived), adjusted OR 0.777, 95% CI (0.748 to 0.808) in large urban area; adjusted OR= 0.808 for decile 1 to 0.726 for decile 10 in other areas vs decile 1 in urban areas; (2) For pap smear: decile 10 vs 1 adjusted OR 0.66, 95%CI (0.642 to 0.679) in large urban areas; adjusted OR= 0.747 for decile 1 to 0.562 for decile 10 in other areas vs decile 1 in urban areas). Screening rates were globally higher in large urban areas. For mammography, the social and territorial disparities were higher outside the recommended age group. Conclusions Offering a universal approach to every woman, as it is often the case in nationally organised screening programmes, is likely to be insufficient to ensure real equity in access. Developing global dataset combining health data and diverse socioeconomic data, at individual and contextual levels, could enable a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in this social gradient, and therefore, the development of targeted territorial actions to improve equity of access to healthcare.