A study on the role of obesity in cancer screening rates for prostate, cervical as well as breast and colorectal cancers across race/ethnicity and gender is examined in the current issue of the Journal of Obesity. Researchers in Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University recently found that obesity was linked to higher rates of prostate cancer screening across all races/ethnic differences and lower rates of cervical cancer screening, most notably in white women.
"Numerous studies have suggested that obesity constitutes an obstacle to cancer screening, but a deeper examination also considering the role of race/ethnicity and gender in the equation has not been done before," said Heather Bittner Fagan, MD, FAAFP MPH, lead author and associate professor, Thomas Jefferson University and director of Health Services Research, department of Family and Community Medicine, Christiana Care Health System. "A greater understanding of the relationship between cancer screening and obesity, race/ethnicity and gender can also help explain the association between obesity and increased cancer mortality."
Obesity is second only to tobacco use as a risk factor for cancer and is associated with increased mortality for all cancer combined as well as for cancer of specific sites, including cancer of the colon/rectum, prostate, breast, and cervix.
ANALYSIS
In cervical cancer screening, increasing weight was consistently associated with lower rates of Pap smear use. Studies showed this to be most notable in white women, with black women, particularly black women of high socioeconomic status showing an absent or less strong association.
In contrast, prostate cancer screening levels were consistently shown to increase with weight. In three of four studies obese men were more likely to receive a PSA test for prostate cancer screening than their normal weight peers. This unique finding seems to remain across race/ethnicity differences.
Advertisement
A review of breast cancer screening research showed no correlation between weight and mammography use in women. In the three studies examined that stratified the obesity-screening relationship according to race, one study showed obesity corresponded with a decreased use of mammography in white women and increased use in their black counterparts. Two of the three studies found a positive association between obesity and mammography use in black women, while one study showed no effect.
Advertisement
CONCLUSIONS
Cultural differences among men, women, blacks and whites as well as socioeconomic factors such as insurance status and access to health care, which can be confounded with race/ethnicity and gender, may limit or grant access to certain cancer screenings.
"We hope to have built a more detailed picture of the relationship between obesity and cancer screening to inform efforts to identify and reduce disparities in cancer screening," said Fagan and Wender.
"Screening behaviors can vary by ethnicity/race and gender, but more research is needed to create a comprehensive understanding of obesity and cancer screening in race-gender subgroups such as white men, white women, black men and black women, accounting for the effects of the doctor-patient relationship, access to care and type of screening test."
Source-Eurekalert