TUESDAY, March 11, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Evidence relating to barriers to and facilitators of clinical preventive service use in people with disabilities is limited, according to a review published online March 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Using data from five electronic databases through September 2024, David I. Buckley, M.D., M.P.H., from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, and colleagues summarized barriers to and facilitators of receipt of preventive services and effectiveness of interventions to improve preventive service receipt among people with disabilities. Seventy-four studies were included: 60 on barriers and facilitators, 16 on interventions, and two on both barriers/facilitators and interventions.

Most of the evidence was related to breast and cervical cancer screening. The researchers found that barriers to and facilitators of screening for breast and cervical cancer spanned all disability types and across environment, individual, provider, and health care levels. Educational interventions were studied in six randomized controlled trials: two in people with physical disabilities; two in people with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities; one in people with sensory disabilities; and one in those with serious mental illness, with mixed findings on the effectiveness of different preventive services. Limited evidence was available on specific components or harms of interventions.

“The perspectives and experiences of people with disabilities are centrally important to understanding and addressing barriers to the receipt of preventive services and should be included in future research,” the authors write.

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