Nearly half of California’s Korean women go without regular mammograms

Fewer than 52 percent of Korean women over 40 have had a mammogram screening in the last two years, giving them the lowest mammogram screening rate of all racial and ethnic groups in California, according to a new fact sheet from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research developed with a grant from Susan G. Komen®.   California is home to about 31 percent of the entire U.S. Korean population, according to 2010 Census Bureau figures, and approximately 334,000 Koreans live in the Los Angeles metropolitan area alone.   The fact sheet reports mammography screening rates across many racial/ethnic groups, using data from the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). It was released along with new data on mammography and other breast cancer-related indicators, which are available in downloadable data files on the CHIS website: www.chis.ucla.edu.
Asians get fewer mammograms
The mammogram screening rate for all Asian women according to CHIS data is 72.4 percent, nearly 7 points lower than the state average of 79.1, according to the analysis. With less screening, women may be diagnosed with later stage breast cancers, lowering their chances for survival.
“Getting a regular mammogram should be an absolute, not an option,” said Ninez Ponce, principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey.  “The lower screening rates among Asians, and especially among Koreans, suggests a need for culturally appropriate outreach to encourage women not to neglect this critical early-warning tool in the fight against breast cancer.”
Among other racial groups, African-American (83 percent) and white (81.5 percent) women reported the highest mammography screening rates followed by Latinas with 77.5 percent, according to the report.
Screening rates vary within ethnic and racial subgroups 
Differences within racial groups varied.  For instance, among Latinas, those of European descent had the lowest screening rate (73.2 percent) while South Americans had the highest (82.6 percent), a 9.4 percent difference.   Among Asian groups, the difference was more than triple that figure: at 84.1 percent, Japanese women had the highest screening rate – 32 points higher than Korean women at 51.8 percent. Rates for Filipinas and Vietnamese were 78.2 and 75.6 percent, respectively, while Chinese, mixed Asian and South Asian women had lower screening rates (72.8, 73.9 and 68.8 percent, respectively).
Need for outreach
Lack of insurance may be one factor in low participation among Korean women and the Affordable Care Act may improve access to screenings. But there is a need for more outreach to increase awareness about the importance of screenings for almost all Asian women and particularly among Koreans, the fact sheet’s authors conclude.
Read the fact sheet: Asians Below State Average for Timely Mammograms
For researchers: For more than a decade, the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) has collected data on mammography from a large sample of racially and ethnically diverse Californians. These data, collected in five different languages, represent a unique source of information on breast cancer control among many different racial and ethnic groups and subgroups. The files are available for public use and can be downloaded in SAS and other formats.  Download mammogram and other cancer data at: www.chis.ucla.edu.

About the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. For more information, visit healthpolicy.ucla.edu.