Identifying screening venues that reach underserved women may be an important step in reducing cervical cancer. STD clinics often serve women who may not have ready access to other healthcare services. An urban US STD clinic was selected to test suitability of the STD clinic setting for cervical cancer screening.

Methods Women 30 years of age and older were recruited from clinic waiting rooms and compensated $20 for study participation. Women were offered cervical cancer screening and were asked to be available for follow up by a method of their choosing. Liquid based cytology and HPV DNA (Roche, Indianapolis, IN) testing were both performed. HPV DNA assays were performed comparing results of vaginal self- swab specimens to cervical swab results. Up to 3 attempts were made to contact participants with results using the patient-preferred contact method. Outcomes of interest included reasons for not accepting screening and proportion of results delivered to this classically hard-to-reach population.

Findings At the time of this abstract, 52 participants have completed follow up (age range 30–48, median age of 37 years); 30 African American women, 19 White, 1 Native American and 2 of multiple races). Only 2 eligible clinic patients refused study participation, 47 were available for follow up contact, and 35 reported having no regular doctor. Sixteen were high risk HPV positive and 4 of this group had an accompanying pap result of LSIL or greater.

Conclusion The findings suggest that cervical cancer screening can be successfully done in this urban STD clinic setting. Despite concerns regarding the willingness of this population to provide reliable contact information, our experience suggests that women are eager to receive cervical cancer screening results. Future studies will evaluate staff provision of follow up and navigation services in a variety of STD clinic settings.