Of women living in the U.S., Mexican women have the lowest rates of repeat screening mammography compliance, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Lead study author Patricia Miranda, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues examined mammography use trends among women of varying ethnicities and races in the context of the U.S. Healthy People 2010 project, which provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving Americans' health (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, February 2012, Vol. 21:2, pp. 351-357).
Miranda's team analyzed sample data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' 1996-2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The study included 64,811 women between the ages of 40 and 75 from six ethnic/racial groups (black, white, Mexican, other Latinas, Puerto Rican, and Cuban).
The researchers found that for most U.S. women, the Healthy People 2010 mammography goal of screening compliance of at least 70% was achieved between 1996 and 2007. Puerto Rican and white women, respectively, had the highest mammography rates, and black and Cuban women had rates that approached the 2010 goal, Miranda and colleagues wrote.
But Mexican women living in the U.S. reported the lowest rates of repeat screening at least two years after an initial exam. Miranda's group also found that from 2000, Mexican Latinas' mammography use was 10% below the Healthy People 2010 goal.
