Socioeconomic Factors, Immigration Status, and Cancer Screening Among Mexican American Women Aged 75 and Older

Abstract

To explore the association between socioeconomic factors and acculturation with cancer screening methods, we analyzed data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, on 1,272 women aged 75 and older residing in the United States in 2004–2005. We found that lower Pap smear or mammography uses were associated with older age, lower education, and having public health insurance compared with private. Other factors associated with mammography use were depressive symptoms, cognition, and functional limitations. In sum, socioeconomic factors and health insurance coverage, but not acculturation, determine cancer screening utilization in very old Mexican American women.

This project was supported by the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The sponsors had no role in the design, methods, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, decision for submission, or writing of the article. The interpretation and reporting of these data are the sole responsibilities of the authors. Preliminary findings of this work were presented at the American Public Health Association's 136th Annual Meeting, in San Diego, CA, on October 28, 2008.