Screening for breast cancer: Time, travel, and out-of-pocket expenses

Abstract

Background: We estimated the personal costs to women found to have a breast problem (either breast cancer or benign breast disease) in terms of time spent, miles traveled, and cash payments made for detection, diagnosis, initial treatment, and follow-up. Methods: We analyzed data from personal interviews with 465 women from four communities in Florida. These women were randomly selected from those with a recent breast biopsy (within 6-8 months) that indicated either breast cancer (208 women) or benign breast disease (257 women). One community was the site of a multifaceted intervention to promote breast screening, and the other three communities were comparison sites for evaluation of that intervention. All P values are two-sided. Results: In comparison with time spent and travel distance for women with benign breast disease (13 hours away from home and 56 miles traveled), time spent and travel distance were statistically significantly higher (P