gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Screening programs for various cancer sites exist in Germany for cancers of the breast, colon/rectum, skin, prostate and cervix. International studies showed that the participation rates largely differ between countries and programs [1], [2]. Most studies are based on either cross-sectional studies with self-reported data or on screening registries. Meta analyses have recently been performed to review determinants of participation. Few studies have been performed in Germany. For example, based on an RKI report from 2017, 74.2 % of all women aged 50 to 69 years participated in mammography screening within the last two years with increasing participation with higher educational level.

Methods: We used the data of the baseline survey of the German National Cohort (NAKO Gesundheitsstudie) to estimate the participation proportion for mammography screening and other screening programs for different migrant groups. Logistic regression was used to quantify possible effects adjusted for sex, age, study center and education.

Results: The participation proportion of migrants´ were lower for most cancer screenings. Turkish migrants and resettlers were two groups with a particularly low attendance (e.g. use of the hemoccult test for detection of colorectal cancer: Turkish migrants (Odds ratio=0.56; 95% confidence interval [0.48-0.66]), Resettlers (Odds ratio=0.61; 95% confidence interval [0.54-0.69])). However, for the mammography screening no differences were observed between different migrant groups and non-migrants (e.g. Turkish migrants (Odds ratio=0.79; 95% confidence interval [0.54-1.17]), Resettlers (Odds ratio=1.22; 95% confidence interval [0.95-1.57])

Discussion: Studies that are based on self-reported data have been criticised for a possibly limited sensitivity and specificity of screening self-reports.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that a positive ethics committee vote has been obtained.