Photo Credit: Marco Jean deOliveira Teixeira |
To identify major social factors hindering breast cancer screening in women aged 40 and older in the U.S., researchers focused on race/ethnicity, employment, education, food security, insurance status, housing and access to quality health care.
There is a pressing need to explore and understand which social determinants of health (SDOH) and health inequities act as significant influential factors that contribute to low breast cancer screening behaviors in the United States.
Health disparities have been consistently associated with delayed screening, which then contributes to higher mortality rates among both Hispanic and Black populations. Moreover, poverty, lack of education, neighborhood disadvantage, residential segregation, racial discrimination, lack of social support and social isolation also play a role in the breast cancer stage at diagnosis.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine conducted a scoping review of 72 peer-reviewed observational studies published between 2013 and 2023 to identify the major SDOH that hinder breast cancer screening in women aged 40 and older in the U.S. They focused on race/ethnicity, employment, education, food security, insurance status, housing and access to quality health care.