Approaches to monitoring biological outcomes for HPV vaccination: challenges of early adopter countries.

In this review, we describe plans to monitor the impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on biologic outcomes in selected international areas (Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Nordic countries, Scotland, and the United States) that have adopted this vaccine. This summary of monitoring plans provides a background for discussing the challenges of vaccine monitoring in settings where resources and capacity may vary. A variety of approaches that depend on existing infrastructure and resources are planned or underway for monitoring HPV vaccine impact. Monitoring HPV vaccine impact on biologic outcomes is a complex and challenging task, but also plays an important role in documenting the benefit of vaccination, monitoring the progress of vaccination programs, and providing data to inform vaccination and disease prevention policies.

The optimum organization for the delivery of colposcopy service in Ontario: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimum organization for colposcopy service delivery in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: A multidisciplinary expert panel was convened to develop a systematic review to inform organizational guidelines. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, HealthSTAR, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched from 1996 to February 2006 for articles that reported guidance or outcomes relating to improved outcomes in colposcopy training, qualifications, accreditation, maintenance of competency, the delivery of colposcopy, reducing default from colposcopy clinics, and/or strategies to improve patient satisfaction or comfort. In addition, an environmental scan identified unpublished documents related to the delivery of colposcopy services. RESULTS: Sixteen guidance documents related to the delivery of colposcopy services were identified; 5 from the published literature and 11 from the environmental scan. These documents were used by the panel to inform the systematic review and companion guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the Ontario Colposcopy Guidelines Development Group believes that the benefits associated with the implementation of colposcopy recommendations in Ontario will result in greater organization of care and improved patient outcomes. In addition, the group anticipates that these recommendations will provide useful guidance to regional planning authorities, hospital administrators, and Cancer Care Ontario, as well as colposcopists and other practitioners, in the planning of integrated regional and provincial cancer screening services.

Promoting cancer screening among Ontario Chinese women.

OBJECTIVES: Cancer screening participation is typically low among newcomers to Canada. Consequently, mortality and morbidity rates are higher in ethno/cultural populations. There are inherent challenges in reaching these population groups to increase awareness and participation in cancer screening. Many reports have cited the need for culturally appropriate materials and multi-pronged strategies for effective outreach in the Chinese community. This paper outlines the consultation/development process and evaluation strategy for promoting cancer screening among Chinese women with limited English language skills. PARTICIPANTS: As Chinese is the third most commonly spoken language in Canada, this community education project focused on health promoters providing services to Chinese women 50 years and older. SETTING: Ontario communities. INTERVENTION: Partners and stakeholders were consulted and engaged to define the best approach to develop and distribute culturally sensitive public education resources to assist communities in realizing greater awareness of and participation in cancer screening. OUTCOMES: Customized resource kits were developed and distributed to the target population over the course of two phases of this project. An evaluation strategy was designed and implemented to assess the impact of the project. CONCLUSION: The process to develop culturally sensitive and evidence-based materials for Chinese is detailed in this article. This multi-year project designed and distributed customized resource kits, through consultation with partners and stakeholders. Project outcomes will be further assessed one year after distribution of the kits. This project template may be useful for adaptation and use in other ethnocultural groups within and outside Ontario.

Fecal occult blood testing: people in Ontario are unaware of it and not ready for it.

OBJECTIVE: To determine factors that influence awareness of, and readiness to undergo, fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. DESIGN: Validated survey designed to ascertain respondents' stages of decision making regarding CRC screening using FOBT. SETTING: Ontario. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1013 people 50 years old and older drawn from all regions of the province using a random-digit dialing telephone protocol. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Awareness of FOBT and readiness to undergo it for screening for CRC. RESULTS: Response rate was 69%. Results indicated that 54% of women and 45% of men had "heard of" FOBT, and 26% of women and 17% of men had heard of it but were still "not considering" FOBT screening. Only 17% of all respondents had "decided to have" FOBT screening. Demographic factors associated with having heard of FOBT were female sex, completion of college or higher education, and being married or living as married. Demographic factors associated with active consideration of FOBT among those who reported awareness of it were male sex and being married or living as married. CONCLUSION: Many people seemed uninformed about FOBT and not ready to undertake this type of screening. Results of this survey could help guide strategies and develop programs to make eligible people aware of CRC screening using FOBT and to motivate them to undergo testing.

Defining a strategy to evaluate cervical cancer prevention and early detection in the era of HPV vaccination.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to outline the short-, medium- and long-term requirements of a strategy to evaluate the impact of HPV immunization and to define a framework to facilitate planning and evaluation. METHOD: This strategy was developed in Ontario from January to August 2008. Literature review was completed to assess existing material relevant to vaccine evaluation, and HPV vaccine specifically. Scientists and epidemiologists within our organization attended meetings to brainstorm and identify key requirements for vaccine evaluation. Other selected internal and external experts were consulted to review preliminary lists of potential indicators and questions for inclusion in an evaluation strategy. RESULTS: Results are reported in three sections--literature review, proposed evaluation framework and data requirements. CONCLUSION: The first vaccine evaluation strategy that integrates primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer is presented. Among women who are neither screened nor immunized, customized interventions will be required to ensure that they are aware of potential risks and benefits. This evaluation strategy may serve as a useful outline for jurisdictions in Canada and elsewhere. This new paradigm of combined primary and secondary intervention will encourage cooperation for effective evaluation of an integrated approach for control of cervical cancer and other HPV-related disease.

Influence of physician and patient characteristics on adherence to breast cancer screening recommendations.

Identifying physician and patient characteristics is important in implementing effective, targeted strategies to improve breast cancer detection rates through increased screening recommendations and uptake. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Ontario physicians recommend breast screening using mammography every 2 years for women aged 50-69 as encouraged by the Ontario Breast Screening Program. This study also aimed to identify physician and patient characteristics that may influence adherence to these recommendations. The study design was a cross-sectional study. Using the Canadian Medical Directory-Ontario database, 3063 questionnaires were mailed to all active general and family practitioners. A response rate of 38% (N = 939) was achieved. Adherence to screening was defined as recommending screening to women aged 50-69 only, every 2 years as outlined by the Ontario Breast Screening Program. Bivariate analyses and unconditional logistic regression were used to assess physician adherence to screening guidelines. Only 38.9% of physicians followed recommended breast screening guidelines. After adjusting for physician sex and age, predictors of screening adherence include physicians working in academic or research centers (odds ratio 8.3, 95% confidence interval 1.7-39.7) and those reporting that over 31% of their patients to be of low-income (odds ratio 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.4). Compared with physicians working in a rural/town setting (<10 000 people), those located in a large city (>100 000 people) were less likely to adhere to screening guidelines (odds ratio 0.5, 95% confidence interval 0.3-0.7). A low proportion of Ontario physicians adhere to recommended breast screening guidelines. Future research into effective strategies to increase adherence should take into account practice location, setting and patient characteristics.

Decreasing incidence of cervical adenocarcinoma in Ontario: is this related to improved endocervical Pap test sampling?

In many developed countries, the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased. These reductions have been specific to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and have not included adenocarcinoma (AC). Incidence of AC has increased steadily over the last 20 years. The intent of this article is to examine trends in cervical adenocarcinoma incidence in Ontario over a 20-year period in relation to screening practices. All cases of cervical cancer between 1981 and 2002 were extracted from the Ontario Cancer Registry (a population-based, provincial-wide database). Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated overall, by broad age groups and by morphological type (SCC and AC). Time trends were assessed using JoinPoint methodology. In Ontario, opportunistic cervical cancer screening has been accompanied by significantly decreased rates of SCC since at least 1981. Conversely, the incidence of AC rose by 3.1% per year (95% CI: 1.6%, 4.6%) between 1981 and 1995, and subsequently declined by 4.0% per year (95% CI: -7.4%, -0.5%). From the mid- to late-1990s, instructions were distributed to clinicians, reinforcing the importance of dual specimen collection (i.e., using both spatula and endocervical brush). At the same time, laboratories routinely provided physicians with kits that included both spatula and brush. The subsequent decline in AC incidence may be due, in part, to improved specimen collection. As well, the decline may be partly due to increased awareness of AC precursors among cytopathologists and clinicians, and/or improvements in laboratory training and quality assurance.

Comparison of papanicolaou (Pap) test rates across Ontario and factors associated with cervical screening.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer remains a significant yet preventable disease despite the widespread availability of Pap test screening, which detects cervical cancer and its precursor lesions. The aims of this study were to: i) estimate and compare age- and hysterectomy-adjusted Pap test rates across the 37 Ontario public health units (PHUs), and ii) explore the association between several factors and Pap test rates (at the ecological level). METHODS: Cytobase, an Ontario Pap test registry, captures more than 80% of all Pap tests in Ontario. Cytobase was used to determine Pap test rates adjusted for age, hysterectomy and Cytobase coverage for the year 2001. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between Pap test rates and various factors at an ecological level, RESULTS: Age-, hysterectomy- and Cytobase-adjusted one-year Pap rates ranged from 11.6% to 73.9% among PHUs. The overall rate for Ontario was 40.7%. Multivariate analyses indicated that the presence of a teaching hospital was associated with higher Pap test rates. CONCLUSION: One-year Pap test rates varied greatly across the 37 public health units in Ontario. Pap test rates determined using Cytobase were lower than self-reported rates obtained from the Canadian Community Health Survey, possibly due to "over-reporting". In general, women were not screened as frequently as recommended by the Ontario Cervical Screening Program. A positive association was observed between Pap test rates and the presence of a teaching hospital. Data quality issues limit the ability to monitor cervical screening. A provincial registry would address these issues.