Oral Cancer Screening in a High-Risk Underserved Community: Vancouver Downtown Eastside

The objective of this study was to evaluate a clinic-centered oral cancer screening initiative in one of the poorest communities in Canada, assessing the need for screening and the acceptance of screening and identifying hindrances to both screening and follow-up. The study group included 204 people...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health care for the poor and underserved 2007-11, Vol.18 (5), p.767-778
Main Authors: Poh, Catherine F, Hislop, Gregory, Currie, Brenda, Lee, Rick, Sikorski, Sean, Zed, Chris, Zhang, Lewei, MacAulay, Calum, Rosin, Miriam Pearl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affordable housing
Aged
Biopsy
Biopsy - utilization
British Columbia
Canada
Cancer
Community Health Centers - utilization
Community service
Female
Health Services Accessibility
Health Services Needs and Demand - statistics & numerical data
High risk
HIV
Hotels & motels
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Male
Mass Screening - methods
Mass Screening - utilization
Medical research
Medical treatment
Medically Underserved Area
Middle Aged
Mortality
Mouth Neoplasms - diagnosis
Mouth Neoplasms - prevention & control
Oral cancer
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data
Patients
Poverty
Poverty Areas
Prescription drugs
Program Development
Program Evaluation
Public Health Dentistry
Risk Factors
Screening
Socioeconomic Factors
Underserved people
Urban Health Services - utilization
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The objective of this study was to evaluate a clinic-centered oral cancer screening initiative in one of the poorest communities in Canada, assessing the need for screening and the acceptance of screening and identifying hindrances to both screening and follow-up. The study group included 204 people in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES). This was shown to be a high-risk community based on risk factors, lack of access to care, and the high frequency of oral mucosal anomalies. Acceptance of screening was high (98%); however, acceptance of biopsy for abnormal findings and follow-up was low. Among the 12 patients with clinical leukoplakia who were biopsied, 10 showed cancer or precancer. In summary, these data show a need for screening in this population and an ability to recruit patients to screening. They support a future expansion of this initiative to create a more comprehensive strategy for outreach to this underserved community that extends to screening, diagnostic work-up, and treatment.
ISSN:1049-2089
1548-6869
1548-6869
DOI:10.1353/hpu.2007.0106