Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Rates in Student-Run Free Clinics: A Systematic Review

Objective To assess rates of breast and cervical cancer screening at student-run free clinics to better understand challenges and strategies for advancing quality and accessibility of women’s health screening at student-run free clinics. Data sources We performed a systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases from database inception to 2020 using keywords related to student-run clinics, breast cancer screening, and cervical cancer screening. Study eligibility criteria We included all English-language publications describing screening rates of breast and/or cervical cancer at student-run free clinics within the United States. Five authors screened abstracts and reviewed full texts for inclusion. Study appraisal and synthesis methods Two reviewers extracted data independently for each publication using a structured data extraction table. Disagreements were resolved by group consensus. Two reviewers then assessed for risk of bias for each text using a modified Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality checklist for cross-sectional and prevalence studies. Results were synthesized qualitatively due to study heterogeneity. Results Of 3634 references identified, 12 references met study inclusion criteria. The proportion of patients up-to-date on breast cancer screening per guidelines ranged from 45% to 94%. The proportion of patients up-to-date on cervical cancer screening per guidelines ranged from 40% to 88%. Conclusion Student-run free clinics can match breast and cervical cancer screening rates amongst uninsured populations nationally, though more work is required to bridge the gap in care that exists for the underinsured and uninsured.