Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction: Previous research has shown that the uptake of health screening programs can be influenced by various demographics, such as deprivation, gender and, more recently, rural residence. This study tested the hypothesis that rural populations had lower uptake of screening mammography in the Scottish and Australian setting. Methods: Scottish data is based upon information from the Scottish Breast Screening Programme Information System describing uptake among women residing within the NHS Highland Health Board area who were invited to attend for screening during the 2008 to 2010 round (N= 27,416). Australian data were drawn from the 2010 survey of the 1946-51 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (N=9,890 women). Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, results indicated that women living in rural areas were not less likely to attend for screening mammography compared to women living in urban areas in both Scotland (OR for rural=1.17, 95% CI=1.06-1.29) and Australia (OR for rural=1.15, 95%CI=1.01-1.31). Conclusion: The absence of a lower attendance of screening mammography among women living in rural areas suggests that mobile breast screening units serving rural areas of both Scotland and Australia can be effective in ensuring adequate service provision and may provide a model in other international contexts. In conclusion, mobile units are useful in reducing inequalities relating to health-care service access for the rural population.