Predictors of mammography use among women veterans

We examined mammography use patterns of women veterans and explored Veterans Administration (VA) health care use and military experience as predictors of mammography use by this population. We conducted a national telephone survey of women veterans. A sample of 397 women veterans was selected from all military discharges from 1971 through 1994. A 3 x 2 stratification scheme was used: three age groups (35-49, 50-64, > or = 65 years old) and two VA user groups indicating whether (VA user) or not (VA nonuser) they received any health care from a VA Medical Center in the last 5 years. The response rate was 75% (297 of 397). Analyses included bivariate techniques and weighted logistic regression. We found that women veterans told to have a mammogram by a health care professional were more than five times more likely to have ever had a mammogram (OR 5.41, CI 4.63-6.32) and nearly twice as likely to have had a mammogram within the past 2 years (OR 1.81, CI 1.57-2.09) as those who were not told to do so, controlling for age, race, VA user status, and length of military service. Regular VA users were more likely to have had a mammogram ever and within the past 2 years, controlling for other factors. Mammography use was not necessarily at a VA medical center. Interventions that promote better provider-patient communication and target older women veterans may have the most potential benefit. Whether VA health care is filling an important gap in access to mammography for older women veterans is an important policy question and warrants further research.