The association between general practitioners' attitudes towards breast cancer screening and women's screening participation.
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the health services in the five regions. Although general practitioners (GPs) are not directly involved in the screening process, they are often the first point of contact to the health care system and thus play an important advisory role. No previous studies, in a health care setting like the Danish system, have investigated the association between GPs' attitudes towards breast cancer screening and women's participation in the screening programme.


METHODS
Data on women's screening participation was obtained from the regional screening authorities. Data on GPs' attitudes towards breast cancer screening was taken from a previous survey among GPs in the Central Denmark Region. This study included women aged 50-69 years who were registered with a singlehanded GP who had participated in the survey.


RESULTS
The survey involved 67 singlehanded GPs with a total of 13,288 women on their lists. Five GPs (7%) had a negative attitude towards breast cancer screening. Among registered women, 81% participated in the first screening round. Multivariate analyses revealed that women registered with a GP with a negative attitude towards breast cancer screening were 17% (95% CI: 2-34%) more likely to be non-participants compared with women registered with a GP with a positive attitude towards breast cancer screening.


CONCLUSIONS
The GPs' attitudes may influence the participation rate even in a system where GPs are not directly involved in the screening process. However, further studies are needed to investigate this association.
The Research Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, Aarhus C, Denmark. line.jensen@alm.au.dk
Line Flytkjær
LF
Jensen
Thomas Ostersen
TO
Mukai
Berit
B
Andersen
Peter
P
Vedsted
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003718:Denmark; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation