title: Screening mammography uptake within Australia and Scotland in rural and urban populations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that rural populations had lower uptake of screening mammography than urban populations in the Scottish and Australian setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Scottish data are based upon information from the Scottish Breast Screening Programme Information System describing uptake among women residing within the NHS Highland Health Board area who were invited to attend for screening during the 2008 to 2010 round (N = 27,416). Australian data were drawn from the 2010 survey of the 1946-51 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (N = 9890 women).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contrary to our hypothesis, results indicated that women living in rural areas were not less likely to attend for screening mammography compared to women living in urban areas in both Scotland (OR for rural = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.06-1.29) and Australia (OR for rural = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.01-1.31).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The absence of rural-urban differences in attendance at screening mammography demonstrates that rurality is not necessarily an insurmountable barrier to screening mammography.
authors: School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Australia; Policy and Epidemiology Group, Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Australia; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of WA, United States.
authors: Janni
authors: J
authors: Leung
authors: NHS Highland, United Kingdom.
authors: Catriona
authors: C
authors: Macleod
authors: School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Australia.
authors: Deirdre
authors: D
authors: McLaughlin
authors: Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
authors: Laura M
authors: LM
authors: Woods
authors: NHS Highland, United Kingdom.
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Henderson
authors: NHS Highland, United Kingdom.
authors: Angus
authors: A
authors: Watson
authors: School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
authors: Richard G
authors: RG
authors: Kyle
authors: School of Health Sciences, University of Stirling, United Kingdom.
authors: Gill
authors: G
authors: Hubbard
authors: The Highland Breast Centre, Raigmore Hospital, United Kingdom.
authors: Russell
authors: R
authors: Mullen
authors: School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom.
authors: Iain
authors: I
authors: Atherton
keywords: Australia; Breast neoplasms; Early detection of cancer; Health services; Health services accessibility; Healthcare disparities; Rural health; Rural health services; Rural population; Scotland