# Characterizing Disparities and Elucidating Opportunities Across the Cervical Cancer Continuum among Native American Women

> **NIH NIH R21** · ALBUQUERQUE AREA INDIAN HEALTH BOARD · 2020 · $173,113

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Although cervical cancer is a preventable disease, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN)
women suffer from substantially lower cervical cancer screening rates, disproportionately higher
cervical cancer incidence rates; and are more often diagnosed at distant stages of the disease
than their non-Native counterparts. Despite progress in reducing the overall cervical cancer rate
in the U.S., the higher (and increasing) incidence rate among AI/AN women, and the
unfavorable profile of local versus advanced stage of disease at diagnosis, indicate a continued
need for aggressive and comprehensive screening and timely follow-up of abnormal results. At
a time when efficacious and well-known cervical cancer control interventions such as Pap
screening, testing for human papillomavirus (HPV), and HPV vaccinations are widely available,
these stark disparities across the cervical cancer continuum are alarming for AI/AN women and
reflect a significant public health problem. This study will aim to fill in these critical gaps in
knowledge, understanding, and translation by utilizing linked data for AI/AN women in the IHS
Epi Data Mart with women in the highly unique New Mexico HPV Pap Registry (NMHPVPR) to
characterize cervical cancer screening coverage, rates and intensity, failures in cervical cancer
screening, diagnosis and treatment, and correlates of cervical screening with HPV vaccination
among AI/AN women. Our aims are to use the linked dataset to: a) reduce any racial
misclassification of AI/AN women in the NMHPVPR and characterize cervical cancer screening
coverage, intensity, intervals, and annual screening rates and to identify disparities in screening
among AI/AN women registered at IHS/Tribal/Urban (I/T/U) health care facilities in New Mexico;
b) assess failures in follow-up to abnormal Pap/HPV tests, and treatment following a diagnosis
of cervical precancer among New Mexican AI/AN women and to geospatially analyze the
failures so as to guide targeted interventions in the areas of most need; and c) to estimate HPV
vaccination coverage, vaccine dose delivery, and screening initiation by HPV vaccination status
in AI/AN women attending I/T/U facilities. The overarching premise of this study is that
comprehensive elucidation of the specific pathways through which failures occur among AI/AN
women across the cervical cancer continuum will inform cost-effective and data-driven
strategies for intervention that can mitigate the pervasive health disparities witnessed among
this underserved population. Study findings will be translated into several peer-reviewed
manuscripts and will be translated into reports and presentations to inform tribal leadership and
I/T/U administrators/providers about key opportunities for improvement.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10020805
- **Project number:** 5R21MD014662-02
- **Recipient organization:** ALBUQUERQUE AREA INDIAN HEALTH BOARD
- **Principal Investigator:** Kevin Charles English
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $173,113
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-18 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10020805

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10020805, Characterizing Disparities and Elucidating Opportunities Across the Cervical Cancer Continuum among Native American Women (5R21MD014662-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10020805. Licensed CC0.

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