ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: In the United States, cancer screening rates declined in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay-athome orders and social distancing mandates created a new barrier to health care while further exposing the pre-pandemic health care disparities. METHODS: Using fully de-identified electronic health record data from the University of Mississippi Medical Center's (UMMC) Patient Cohort Explorer, we assessed changes in cervical cancer screening before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of women screened with cervical cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in the pre-COVID months of September 2019 and January 2020 were compared with the same months of the following year during the pandemic (September 2020;January 2021). RESULTS: Data showed a pre-pandemic baseline of 319 and 340 women screened via cervical cytology during September 2019 and January 2020, respectively. Compared to pre-pandemic baseline, cervical cytology screening remained consistent throughout the pandemic with 302 and 311 women screened in September 2020 and January 2021, respectively. Similarly, HPV testing in the pre- COVID months resulted in 229 and 226 women screened as compared to 211 and 170 women screened during the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Cervical cancer screening did not significantly decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi as compared to the 80% decline in cervical screening noted in California. The lack of change could be attributed to the low number of women screened both before and during the pandemic. Low cancer screening in women demonstrates various health care disparities affecting the UMMC patient population and the need to increase patient awareness and education regarding the importance of routine cancer screening.