Effect of distance and social disadvantage on the response to invitations to attend mammography screening

Abstract

Study objectives - To investigate whether public response to an invitation to attend mammography screening can be increased by strategic relocation of the clinics. Methods - Women invited to attend mammography screening were classified by attendance, socioeconomic status, and distance from their screening clinic. A geographic information system was used to investigate whether the response could be increased by relocating clinics to facili tate access. Setting - The metropolitan city of Perth in Western Australia with six fixed site, publicly funded, mammography screening clinics. Main results - Women from disadvantaged areas, not screened previously by the mammography screening programme, had a higher response to an invitation to attend screening if they lived within 3 km of their closest clinics (12%) than if they lived further away (8%). Theoretically, the response of the target population could be increased if the existing clinics were replaced by six new clinics located closer to disadvantaged areas. Conclusions - Public health planners should be aware of the use of geographic information systems to model optimum locations of health care facilities, and be willing to assess the potential target population response to those locations.