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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Thousands of women go without mammograms because they do not have access or do not understand the benefit of the cancer screening. A new study reveals if these women got their health information from someone more like themselves, rather than a doctor or a nurse, they would be more likely to get a mammogram.
Regular mammograms can catch breast cancers early and increase chances of survival. Previous studies show certain groups of women underuse mammography, particularly rural, poor and minority women, report researchers from Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
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Now, researchers report when information comes from someone within their own community, a trained lay adviser, these underserved women were almost twice as likely to get a mammogram.
Researchers compared two groups of rural, low-income women who were older than 40 and had not had a mammogram in the last year. One group of the women received a pamphlet from the National Cancer Institute and a letter. The other group received three in-home visits from a trained lay adviser. The group given personal attention was more likely to get a mammogram by the end of the study.
The researchers concluded that this kind of program would increase the number of women getting mammograms, though they report more studies are needed to figure out the best way to provide this kind of service.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2006;98:1226-1237
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