Mammography use in older women with regular physicians: what are the predictors?

Results of a longitudinal study of 1,050 women 65 years of age and older under the care of faculty internists demonstrate that individual and sociodemographic factors predict mammography use. The majority of the sample (79%) had received a mammogram within the past two years. Multiple logistic regression analyses of findings from a telephone survey showed that mammographic screening was significantly higher among women who had recently received a Pap smear, whose annual household incomes exceeded $30,000, and whose personal health care habits were preventively oriented; they used more preventive services such as routine dental care and engaged in more preventive behaviors such as seat-belt use and routine exercise. Mammography use was significantly higher among those 75 or younger. These findings suggest that enhancing patient preventive orientations should be part of interventions designed to increase screening. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): appropriateness review, preventive health services, utilization, aged, Medicare.