Mammograms on the rise for foreign-born women living in the US

“Lack of access to health care persistently contributes to mammography screening disparities among immigrants,” said Nengliang Aaron Yao, graduate student in health policy and administration.

Yao, working with Marianne Hillemeier, associate professor of health policy and administration, reviewed data on women over 40 who received mammograms in the United States from the years 2000 and 2008. He reported these statistics to attendees at the American Association for Cancer Research conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved today (Sept. 19) in Washington, D.C. The data came from the National Health Interview Survey.

“More recent immigrants, those with poor access to health care, and those who were younger and less educated had lower mammography rates at both time points,” said Yao.

Yao found the number of immigrant women who received mammograms rose by almost 10 percent from 2000 to 2008. While the percentage of immigrant women receiving mammograms is less than U.S.-born women, the gap has shrunk. In 2000, the gap between immigrants and U.S.-born women was 11.2 percent, while in 2008 the gap was only 3.4 percent. In 2000 60.2 percent of immigrant women over 40 received mammograms while in 2008, 65.5 percent received them.

“Mammography rates among immigrant women remain lower than the native-born,” Yao said. “Increasing access to health insurance and a usual source of care will further diminish disparities in mammography receipt.”

Media Contact

Victoria M. Indivero EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.psu.edu

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors