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Factors that influence mammography use and breast cancer detection among Mexican-American and African-American women

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Abstract

Objective

This study examined factors that influence mammography use and breast cancer detection, including education, health insurance, and acculturation, among Mexican-American (MA) and African-American (AA) women.

Methods

The study included 670 breast cancer cases (388 MAs and 282 AAs), aged 40–86 years at diagnosis. Data on mammography use, detection, and delay in seeking care were collected via questionnaires and medical records. Using a language-based bidimensional acculturation measure, MAs were classified as English-dominant (n = 67), bilingual (n = 173), and Spanish-dominant (n = 148). Mammography prior to diagnosis was assessed by racial/ethnic acculturation subgroup using logistic regression.

Results

In age-adjusted models, mammography use was non-significantly lower among English-dominant (OR = 0.84; 95% CI: 0.45–1.59) and bilingual (OR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.55–1.35) MAs and significantly lower among Spanish-dominant MAs (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.34–0.83) than among AA women. After adjustment for education or insurance, there was no difference in mammography use by race/ethnicity and acculturation subgroup. Despite high self-reported mammography use (75%), a large proportion of cases reported self-detection (59%) and delay in seeking care >90 days (17%).

Conclusions

These findings favor promoting culturally appropriate messaging about the benefits and limitations of mammography, education about breast awareness, and prompt reporting of findings to a health professional.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Avon Foundation, a supplement to the Arizona Cancer Center Core Grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA-023074-2953), a supplement to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer (P50 CA116199-02S1), and a grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure® (KG090934).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Rachel Zenuk Garcia, Scott C. Carvajal, Giovanna I. Cruz & María Elena Martínez

  2. Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, 1515N. Campbell Ave., Rm. 4985C, P.O. Box 245024, Tucson, AZ, 85724-5024, USA

    Rachel Zenuk Garcia, Patricia A. Thompson, Jesse N. Nodora, Giovanna I. Cruz, Betsy C. Wertheim & María Elena Martínez

  3. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Patricia A. Thompson

  4. Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jesse N. Nodora

  5. College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jesse N. Nodora

  6. University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Abenaa Brewster & Melissa L. Bondy

  7. Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Ian K. Komenaka

  8. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, Austin, TX, USA

    Anna V. Wilkinson

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  1. Rachel Zenuk Garcia
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  11. María Elena Martínez
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Correspondence to María Elena Martínez.

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Garcia, R.Z., Carvajal, S.C., Wilkinson, A.V. et al. Factors that influence mammography use and breast cancer detection among Mexican-American and African-American women. Cancer Causes Control 23, 165–173 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9865-x

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