Cultural and socioeconomic factors affecting breast cancer screening in an Argentine city

• Autores: Cermignani, Luciano; Rabassa, Martín Enrique; Croce, María Virginia
• Año de publicación: 2020
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: documento de conferencia
• Materia: Ciencias Médicas; breast cancer screening; population study; La Plata
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

In Argentina, there are no studies evaluating cultural and socioeconomic factors affecting breast cancer screening. Argentina presents social and economic disparities, and there is a mixture of features of both developed and developing societies. The goal of this research was to analyze cultural and social factors in advantaged and disadvantaged women of a metropolitan area in order to improve breast cancer screening by increasing the understanding of the complex society. A cross-sectional study was performed; a total of 739 women was included, being 379 of low economic power (Low group, LG) and 360 of middle economic power (MG); women were personally interviewed within three months. A structured previously validated questionnaire was employed considering socially shared values, beliefs, expectations, motivations, and emotions relevant to health behaviors, interactions with the health care system, educational level, occupation, and information about breast cancer and mammographic screening. Previous research in this area suggested that theoretical models and multivariate methods were needed in order to account for the complexity of relations among psychological, social structural, and cultural determinants of health behaviors. In this sense, an exhaustive statistical analysis was performed by multivariate analysis and logistic regression model. A Principal Component Analysis was performed employing previously selected variables; 3 factors were extracted which accounted for 35.8% of the total variance. Factor 1 was associated with fatalistic responses in association to attitudes to life and/or mammography screening while Factor 2 was related to concerns about cancer and exposition to radiation. These two factors and the covariates age, social group, education, health system, and primary doctor were use in a logistic regression model to assess mammographic adherence. Low score Factor 2 (p=0.003), MG (p=0.024) and the availability of a head physician (p<0.000) were associated with high mammographic adherence. Conclusions: This study highlights that mammographic screening is highly influenced by socioeconomic power, health system, and access to primary doctor. It appears that, some psychological factors related to concerns about cancer and exposition to radiation are also important. These data would be important to plan specific prevention and early diagnosis programs to be implemented by governmental entities.
Cetro de Investigaciones Inmunologicas Básicas y Aplicadas