Acculturation and breast cancer screening among Hispanic women in New YorkCity

Objectives. This study investigated whether acculturation was associated wi th the receipt of clinical breast examination nations and mammograms among Colombian, Ecuadorian, Dominican, and Puerto Rican women, aged 18 to 74 yea rs in New York City in 1992. Methods. A bilingual, targeted, random-digit-dialed telephone survey was co nducted among 908 Hispanic women from a population-based quota sample. Outc ome measures included ever and recent use of;clinical breast examinations a nd mammograms. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the effect of acculturation on screening use. Results. When demographic, socioeconomic, and health system characteristics and cancel attitudes and beliefs were controlled for, women who were more acculturated had significantly higher odds of ever and recently receiving a clinical breast examination (P less than or equal to.01) and of ever (P le ss than or equal to.01) and recently (P less than or equal to.05) receiving a mammogram than did less acculturated women. For all screening measures, there was a linear increase in the adjusted probability of being screened a s a function of acculturation. Conclusions. Neighborhood and health system interventions to increase scree ning among Hispanic women should target the less acculturated.