Screening mammography utilization in Tennessee women: the association with residence.

Context: Approximately 70% of US women over age 40 report mammography screening within 2 years. However, rates are likely to vary by age, income, educational level, and residence.

Purpose: To describe the prevalence of screening mammography and associated factors in women living in rural and urban areas of Tennessee.

Methods: Using pooled data from the Tennessee Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS; 2001 and 2003), utilization of screening mammography within a 2-year period was examined for a sample of 1,922 women, 40 years and older. Demographic, behavior, and health-related variables were used to examine associations with utilization.

Findings: The prevalence of screening mammography utilization (71.3% 95% CI 67.4-75.2) in women living in rural areas of Tennessee was significantly lower than utilization among women living in urban areas (78.3% 95% CI 75.9-80.7). Higher utilization was associated with having attained at least a high school education, having health insurance, identifying a personal health care provider, being a nonsmoker, recent use of alcohol, having had a recent clinical breast exam or Papanicolau (Pap) test done, and meeting the Healthy People 2010 (HP 2010) recommendation for physical activity. After controlling for all other factors, rural residence was not associated with utilization. For rural women, identifying a personal health care provider was significantly associated with increased likelihood of utilization.

Conclusions: Lower income and lower education, each associated with lower screening utilization, were more common in rural Tennessee women. The significance of a personal health care provider for utilization in rural women is meaningful for service providers.