VIDEO: Breast cancer screening lacking in women experiencing homelessness
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CHICAGO — Just 18% of women experiencing homelessness who were eligible underwent a mammography over a 5-year period, according to research presented at ASCO Annual Meeting.
“In contrast, for women not experiencing homelessness, the rate was 32%, so almost double,” Chirag S. Shah, MD, a staff member in the department of radiation oncology and co-director of the Comprehensive Breast Program at Cleveland Clinic, told Healio about results from the poster.
Researchers identified women experiencing homelessness who presented for care in a hospital system starting January 2014 through December 2021 and pulled data on completed breast screening mammography during that time.
He noted that in addition to identifying these disparities, researchers also identified targets to help improve screening.
“We saw, for example, that women who had a primary care physician had a higher rate of being able to get a screening mammogram,” Shah said.
He added that the researchers also found that women who were never smokers or never drug users had higher breast cancer mammogram rates and women who were uninsured were less likely to receive mammograms.
“Finding ways to get women experiencing homelessness insurance coverage is a way to improve access to screening,” according to Shah.
“We’re trying to take this data and turn it into practice by accessing grant funding to provide women experiencing homelessness with onsite mobile mammography and access to care,” he said.
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