Performance of physical activity as a predictor of women’s mammography screening attendance in a population of Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the increasing incidence of breast cancer among women in Northeast Brazil, there have been no studies on the association between physical activity and attendance to mammography screening. Objective: This study of Brazilian women addressed socio-economic variables, physical activity, and knowledge about breast cancer and their impact on attendance to mammography screening. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted as an epidemiological evaluation. Data were obtained by interviewing 307 women in a public health center. Logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the odds ratio (ORs) and confidence intervals (CI) of variables. Results: Mean age of women was 49.79 (SD=8.63) years and 172 (56.0%) were between 40 and 49 years old. Women aged from 40 to 49 and ≥50 years who performed physical activity, had a 2.4-fold (95% CI: 1.13-5.04) and 10.6-fold (95% CI: 2.66-41.95) increased chance to attend MS every year (p=0.040; p<0.001). Women aged between 40 and 49 years with a low and middle income, had a 10.3-fold (OR=0.097; 95% CI: 0.02-0.53) and 13.2-fold (OR=0.076; 95% CI: 0.11-0.53) decreased chance to attend MS every second year (p=0.007). The MS attendance of women aged ≥50 years with basic education level was 13.3 (OR=0.075; 95% CI: 0.09-0.66) times decreased (p=0.010). Conclusion: Physical activity represented an important predictor of MS attendance of all women. The impact of income and education level, in contrast, depended strongly on the age group.