Risk factors, preventive practices, and health care among breast cancer survivors, United States, 2010

Abstract

Introduction: We compared behavioral risk factors and preventive measures among female breast cancer survivors, female survivors of other types of cancers, and women without a history of cancer. Survivorship health care indicators for the 2 groups of cancer survivors were compared. Methods: Using data from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we calculated the proportion of women with risk factors and their engagement in preventive practices, stratified by cancer status (cancer survivors or women with no history of cancer), and compared the proportions after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Results: A significantly higher proportion of breast cancer survivors had mammography in the previous year (79.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 76.0%-83.0%) than did other cancer survivors (68.1%; 95% CI, 65.6%-70.7%) or women with no history of cancer (66.4%; 95% CI, 65.5%-67.3%). Breast cancer survivors were also more likely to have had a Papanicolaou (Pap) test within the previous 3 years than women with no history of cancer (89.4%; 95% CI, 85.9%-93.0 vs 85.1%; 95% CI, 84.4%-85.8%) and a colonoscopy within the previous 10 years (75.4%; 95% CI, 71.7%-79.0%) than women with no history of cancer (60.0%; 95% CI, 59.0%-61.0%). Current smoking was significantly lower among survivors of breast cancer (10.3%; 95% CI, 7.4%-13.2%) than other cancer survivors (20.8%; 95% CI, 18.4%-23.3%) and women with no history of cancer (18.3%; 95% CI, 17.5%-19.1%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, we found that breast cancer survivors were significantly more likely to have had mammography, a Pap test, and colonoscopy, and less likely to be current smokers. Conclusion: Breast cancer survivors are more likely to engage in cancer screening and less likely to be current smokers than female survivors of other types of cancer or women with no history of cancer.