A population health assessment of screening mammography on breast cancer mortality in North Carolina

Purpose To identify predictors of screening mammography use and the effect of screening mammography on breast cancer mortality in North Carolina. Methods This cross-sectional study integrated publicly available data from government and private data repositories to model predictors of screening mammography and breast cancer mortality in North Carolina. Results In North Carolina during 2008—2010, on average, 68.1% of women aged 40–74 years underwent a screening mammogram in the previous two years (range: 38.7%–82.1). The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression demonstrated counties experiencing persistent poverty have mammography screening rates that are 4.3% less, on average, than counties without persistent poverty (estimate (SE) = − 4.283 (2.105), p = 0.045). As the percentage of women with a college education increases, the mammography screening rates increase by approximately 0.3% (estimate (SE) = 0.319 (0.078), P < .001) and as the health literacy score increases, the mammography screening rate decreases by 0.3% (estimate (SE) = − 0.318 (0.104), p = 0.003). These variables explain 7.0% of the variability in mammographic screening rates. The OLS regression analysis demonstrated that age-adjusted breast cancer incidence (Estimate (SE) = 0.074 (0.024), p = 0.003) and health literacy score (estimate (SE) = − 0.175 (0.083), p = 0.039) are significantly related to breast cancer mortality. Conclusions Demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental variables explain only a small percentage of the variability in the rates of screening mammography and breast cancer mortality in North Carolina. Advances in the available treatments are likely the major contributor to improving breast cancer mortality.