Abstract
BackgroundBreast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the health services in the five regions. Although general practitioners (GPs) are not directly involved in the screening process, they are often the first point of contact to the health care system and thus play an important advisory role. No previous studies, in a health care setting like the Danish system, have investigated the association between GPs’ attitudes towards breast cancer screening and women’s participation in the screening programme.MethodsData on women’s screening participation was obtained from the regional screening authorities. Data on GPs’ attitudes towards breast cancer screening was taken from a previous survey among GPs in the Central Denmark Region. This study included women aged 50-69 years who were registered with a singlehanded GP who had participated in the survey.ResultsThe survey involved 67 singlehanded GPs with a total of 13,288 women on their lists. Five GPs (7%) had a negative attitude towards breast cancer screening. Among registered women, 81% participated in the first screening round. Multivariate analyses revealed that women registered with a GP with a negative attitude towards breast cancer screening were 17% (95% CI: 2-34%) more likely to be non-participants compared with women registered with a GP with a positive attitude towards breast cancer screening.ConclusionThe GPs' attitudes may influence the participation rate even in a system where GPs are not directly involved in the screening process. However, further studies are needed to investigate this association.
Highlights
Breast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the health services in the five regions
Despite the close relationship and continuity of care between patients and general practitioners (GPs), breast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the secondary health care sector, and the women are invited to attend by a central booking service which handles re-bookings and cancellations
GP characteristics The response rate to the GP questionnaire was 77% (n = 67) among singlehanded GPs who had a total of 13,288 women registered on their lists during the study period from February 2009 to October 2009
Summary
Breast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the health services in the five regions. In a health care setting like the Danish system, have investigated the association between GPs’ attitudes towards breast cancer screening and women’s participation in the screening programme. Data on GPs’ attitudes towards breast cancer screening was taken from a previous survey among GPs in the Central Denmark Region. Despite the close relationship and continuity of care between patients and GPs, breast cancer screening in Denmark is organised by the secondary health care sector, and the women are invited to attend by a central booking service which handles re-bookings and cancellations. This study aims to investigate the association between the GP’s attitude towards breast cancer screening and the women’s participation in the programme
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