Participation behaviour of different migrant groups in breast cancer screening – palpation of the breast and mammography

Background
For early detection of breast cancer, clinical palpation of the breast is offered yearly to all women aged 30 and older, and the German Mammography Screening Programme (MSP) offers biennial mammograms to all women aged 50 to 75 years. We investigated the utilization of both screening methods across various migrant groups in Germany, as well as the effect of German language proficiency.

Methods
Cross-sectional data on participation frequencies from the baseline examination (2014 to 2019) of more than 100,000 women of the German National Cohort study (NAKO) were analysed by migrant status. Adjusted logistic regression analyses were conducted for palpation and MSP to compare screening uptake among six migrant groups, and non-migrant population.

Results
Palpation of the breast was less frequently utilized in all migrant groups with odds ratios ranging from 0.5 (95% CI 0.4–0.6) for Turkish women to 0.9 for women from western countries (95% CI 0.7–1.1) compared to autochthone Germans. Lower German language proficiency further decreases its use. In contrast, odds ratios for MSP participation did not differ substantially compared to Germans ranging from 0.8 to 1.2. German language proficiency had little effect on MSP participation.

Discussion
In contrast to earlier studies, our findings suggest that MSP participation and motivation does not significantly differ by migration status or language skills. This may indicate that information on MSP is broadly accessible through established invitation procedures in Germany. However, lower uptake of breast palpation by a physician in some migrant populations highlights potential gaps in broader preventive care engagement.