Understanding the participation of breast screening among women born in predominantly Muslim countries living in Victoria, Australia from record-linkage data

Abstract

Background Early detection of breast cancer can improve survival rates and decrease mortality rates. This study investigates whether there are significant differences in participation in breast screening among women born in Muslim countries compared to women born in Non-Muslim countries and Australia. Methods Screening data from January 1 st , 2000 to December 31 st , 2013 from the Breast Screen Victoria Registry (BSV) was linked with hospital records from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED). Countries having more than 50% of their population as Muslim were categorised as Muslim countries. Age adjusted rates were calculated for women born in Muslim and Non-Muslim countries and compared with the Australian age adjusted rates. Logistic regression assessed the association between screening status and other factors which include country of birth, marital status, age and socioeconomic status. Results Women born in Muslim countries (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.70, 95%CI = 0.68-0.72) and in other Non-Muslim countries (OR = 0.87, 95%CI = 0.86-0.88) had lower odds of participation in breast screening than Australian born women. Women aged 60-64 years (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.40-1.44) had higher odds of participation in the BreastScreen program than 50-54 age group. Conclusion This study provides valuable insights to understanding breast screening participation among women born in Muslim countries residing in Victoria. This population level study contributes to the broader knowledge of screening participation of women born in Muslim

Breast cancer screening and immigrant women—A scoping review of attendance, knowledge, barriers and facilitators

“…Studies that compared attendance rates between immigrant and native women showed contradictory results, as three studies showed lower attendance rates for immigrant women than for native women (Bhargava, Akslen, et al, 2019; Tsuruda et al, 2018; Yeasmeen et al, 2020), but a fourth study showed a higher participation among immigrant women than native women (Woods et al, 2018). Whether immigrant women had higher or lower attendance rate than native women was also shown to depend on their migrant background and country of origin.…”

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Online Training for Syrian Refugee Women on Human Papilloma Virus Awareness: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…Suriyeli mülteciler arasında HPV farkındalık oranının düşük olduğuna ilişkin tespit ettiğimiz bulgular, daha önce Arap kadınları üzerinde yapılan bazı çalışmaların sonuçlarıyla benzerlik taşımaktadır. [20][21][22] Örneğin, Ürdün'de kadınlar arasında bu tarama testlerinin uygulanması üzerine yapılan bir araştırma, serviks kanseri tarama prevalansının %15,3 olduğunu bildirmiştir. 20 Ayrıca Kanada ve Avustralya'daki Müslüman kadın göçmenlerde de serviks kanseri taramalarına katılımın son derece düşük olduğu bildirilmiştir.…”

“…20 Ayrıca Kanada ve Avustralya'daki Müslüman kadın göçmenlerde de serviks kanseri taramalarına katılımın son derece düşük olduğu bildirilmiştir. 21,22 Dolayısıyla bu çalış-mada, Suriyeli kadın mülteciler arasında HPV'ye ilişkin farkındalık oranının düşük olması, daha önce yapılan araştırmaların bulgularıyla benzer niteliktedir. Göçmen kadınlar; dinî veya etnik kökeni ne olursa olsun, sosyoekonomik durum, sağlık sigortası durumu, dil becerilerinin yetersizliği, tarama testi farkındalığı eksikliği, sağlık hizmetlerine erişimde zorluklar, kültürel inançlar ve tarama testi prosedürlerine ilişkin kaygı nedeniyle tarama engelleriyle karşı karşıya kalmaktadır.…”

Barriers to cervical cancer screening faced by immigrant Muslim women: a systematic scoping review

“…In developed countries, CCS is widely available. However, uptake for the screening is extremely low among immigrant women, including Muslim women, in Canada, the US, and Australia [ 2 – 4 ]. Regardless of religion or ethnicity, immigrant women face barriers to screening related to socioeconomic status, health insurance status, inadequate language skills, lack of awareness of screening test, difficulties in accessing health care services, cultural beliefs, and anxiety regarding screening test procedures [ 5 ].…”