Despite the strong evidence for screening mammography in reducing mortality from breast cancer, uptake is hampered especially in recent immigrant populations. Although mammography screening behaviors of immigrant populations compared to the general population have been widely studied, evidence of the specific characteristics within the immigrant population in a universal healthcare setting, which explain differential uptake is lacking. The current cross sectional study used self-reported data from the 2011–2012 Canadian Community Health Survey to examine the association between recency of immigration and mammography uptake among 1825 immigrant women aged 50–69 years, using multivariable logistic model adjusted for confounders. In the adjusted analysis, non-recent immigrants had a nonsignificantly increased odds of recent mammography uptake, 1.19 (95 % CI 0.41, 3.44) compared to recent immigrants. In the face of evidence depicting differential health care utilization of recent immigrants compared to non-recent ones or the general population, findings from this study highlight further thinking into strategies for improving the health of immigrants. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Screening mammography Breast cancer Immigrant Universal healthcare

health care survey Health Care Surveys human middle aged statistics and numerical data time factor Time Factors Aged Health Surveys ethnology Cross-Sectional Studies cross-sectional study migrant Humans Mammography Canada Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors socioeconomics migration patient attitude Emigration and Immigration Patient Acceptance of Health Care health survey