BREAST-CANCER SCREENING PRACTICES AMONG USERS OF COUNTY-FUNDED HEALTHCENTERS VS WOMEN IN THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY

Background. Breast cancer screening rates tend to be lower among women with lower income and/or education. Methods. Telephone surveys of ran dom samples of women aged 50 to 75 who had visited five health centers (n = 795) and women in the same age group residing in the entire comm unity (n = 404) were conducted in 1988. Results. Despite the significa ntly lower socioeconomic level, a higher proportion of minority women, and a poorer knowledge of mammography, screening rates in the health center group were not lower than in the community sample. About half o r more of the health center respondents had ever had a mammogram regar dless of income, education, age, and ethnic group. Of the community re spondents, 49% had ever had a mammogram, but the proportion varied sig nificantly by income and education. Within the subgroup of women havin g annual incomes below $15 000, mammography use was actually higher am ong health center women; that is, 50% of health center vs 35% of commu nity women reported ever having a mammogram and 31% vs 14%, respective ly, reported having a mammogram in the past year. Conclusion. The find ings demonstrate the importance of publicly funded health centers in a chieving screening rates among the socioeconomically disadvantaged tha t are comparable to (or even higher than) those in the general populat ion.