Cervical Cancer Screening Among Migrant Workers: A Summary of Recorded Data From A Medical Center in Thailand

Abstract

The screening of cancer is important in secondary prevention in clinical oncology. The cervical cancer screening by pelvic examination and Pap smear test is the standard practice worldwide. However, the coverage of the screening is an important consideration in public health. Some specific vulnerable populations are considered to have a low chance of having access to health care services including cancer screening. Here, the authors summarize and present data on cervical cancer screening among migrant workers from a health care center in Bangkok, Thailand. Recorded data on cervical cancer screening in a 1 year period (2018) were reviewed. During this period, there were 1456 cervical screening records. Of these records, 1398 were local Thai and 58 were migrant workers (50 Myanmar workers and 8 Cambodian workers). In our screening, there was no detection of cancer among local Thai females (0 %), however, 2 cases of abnormal cervical cancer screening results (CIN) were found among migrant workers (3.45 %). The incidence of a positive finding was significantly higher among migrant workers than local females. Of interest, migrant workers are an underprivileged group that usually receive limited health cancer services. In fact, migrant workers are limited to receive health screening as a worldwide problem [1, 2]. The low rate of getting cancer screening is well described among migrant workers in the EU [2]. Promoting the care in all clinical aspects and not only cancer screening, is suggested for the migrant workers. Finally, according to our knowledge, this is the first note on the incidence of abnormal pap smear results among migrant Asian workers in Southeast Asia