Jcg. Hyndman et al., Effect of distance and social disadvantage on the response to invitations to attend mammography screening, J MED SCREE, 7(3), 2000, pp. 141-145
Study objectives-To investigate whether public response to an invitation to
attend mammography screening can be increased by strategic relocation of c
linics.
Methods Women invited to attend mammography screening were classified by at
tendance, socioeconomic status, and distance from their screening clinic. A
geographic information system was used to investigate whether the response
could be increased by relocating clinics to facilitate access.
Setting-The metropolitan city of Perth in Western Australia with six fixed
site, publicly funded, mammography screening clinics.
Main results - Women from disadvantaged areas, not screened previously by t
he mammography screening programme, had a higher response to an invitation
to attend screening if they lived within 3 km of their closest clinics (12%
) than if they Lived further away (8%). Theoretically, the response of the
target population could be increased if the existing clinics were replaced
by six new clinics located closer to disadvantaged areas.
Conclusions-Public health planners should be aware of the use of geographic
information systems to model optimum locations of health care facilities,
and be willing to assess the potential target population response to those
locations.