Mammography screening among California Medicare beneficiaries: 1993-1994

Over half of all breast cancer deaths occur among women 65 years of age or older. However, mammography screening decreases with increasing age, despite better survival rates for tumors detected early.

Health Care Financing Administration data from 1993 and 1994, and 1990 United States Census data were used to assess the impact of race, age, Medicaid coverage, and community-level socioeconomic indices on mammography screening for over 800,000 California Medicare beneficiaries.

Women who were African American, older, or had Medicaid coverage were significantly less likely to have a biennial mammogram than their counterparts. Women living in areas with fewer college educated residents, with a higher proportion of Mexican or Asian residents had lower use of mammography. However, African-American and Caucasian women with Medicaid coverage had equally low mammography rates (AOR = 1.01, 95% CI .97-1.04), while African-American women with and without Medicaid had similarly low mammography rates (AOR = .96, 95% CI .92-1.01).

Despite dual coverage, Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicaid had few mammograms. African-American Medicare beneficiaries, with and without Medicaid, had low mammography rates. Intervention efforts should be targeted toward these women.