Mammography screening among Chinese-American women.
BACKGROUND
Breast carcinoma is the most common major malignancy among several Asian-American populations. This study surveyed mammography screening knowledge and practices among Chinese-American women.


METHODS
In 1999, the authors conducted a cross-sectional, community-based survey in Seattle, Washington. Bilingual and bicultural interviewers administered surveys in Mandarin, Cantonese, or English at participants' homes.


RESULTS
The survey cooperation rate (responses among reachable and eligible households) was 72% with 350 eligible women (age >or= 40 years with no prior history of breast carcinoma or double mastectomy). Seventy-four percent of women reported prior mammography screening, and 61% of women reported screening in the last 2 years. In multivariate analysis, a strong association was found between mammography screening and recommendations by physicians and nurses (prior screening: odds ratio [OR], 16.0; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 7.8-35.0; recent screening: OR, 7.0; 95% CI, 3.8-13.6). This finding applied to both recent immigrants (< 15 years in the U.S.) and earlier immigrants (>or= 15 years in the U.S.). Thirty-two percent of women reported that the best way to detect breast carcinoma was a modality other than mammogram.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors recommend a multifaceted approach to increase mammography screening by Chinese-American women: recommendations from the provider plus targeted education to address the effectiveness of screening mammography compared with breast self examination and clinical breast examination.
Tu
Shin-Ping
SP
Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. shinping@u.washington.edu
Yasui
Yutaka
Y
Kuniyuki
Alan A
AA
Schwartz
Stephen M
SM
Jackson
J Carey
JC
Hislop
Thomas Gregory
TG
Taylor
Vicky
V
D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000208:ethnology*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States