Breast cancer screening among Asian immigrant women in Canada.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to examine the pattern of breast cancer screening among Asian immigrant women aged 50-69 years and compare it with corresponding non-immigrant women in Canada.


METHODS
Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey cycle 2.1 (2003) were utilized. Self-reported screening histories were used as outcome variables: socioeconomic status and medical histories were used as predictive variables. Analyses were weighted to represent the target population. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to compare the screening pattern among Asian immigrant women and corresponding non-immigrant Canadians.


RESULTS
In total, 508 Asian immigrant women were included in this study. The results suggest that 71% and 60% of Asian immigrant women reported ever having had and recent mammogram use, respectively, while the corresponding figures for non-immigrant women were 89% and 72%. The observed differences were statistically significant and could not be explained by confounding factors. The ability to speak one of the two official languages is an important barrier to mammography screening among Asian immigrant women.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings show lower rates of mammography screening among Asian immigrant women in Canada. If breast screening is to remain a health policy objective in Canada, targeted efforts to increase the recruitment of Asian immigrant women need to be developed or strengthened.
Sun
Zhuoyu
Z
Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada; Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Xiong
Hui
H
Kearney
Anne
A
Zhang
Jin
J
Liu
Wei
W
Huang
Guowei
G
Wang
Peizhong Peter
PP
D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D002170:Canada / Q000208:ethnology; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis