Estimating the Percent of South Dakota Women Eligible and Screened for Breast Cancer—All Women Count! Program, 2006–2014

Authors:

Patricia Da Rosa (Presenter)
South Dakota State University (SDSU)

Ashley Miller, South Dakota Department of Health
Karen Cudmore, South Dakota Department of Health

Public Health Statement: Low income and lack of health insurance are well known barriers to receiving breast cancer screenings. In South Dakota (SD), the All Women Count! (AWC!) Program provides breast cancer screenings to its most vulnerable population: South Dakota women who meet income guidelines and are uninsured or underinsured. Identifying the program’s eligible population is crucial for fund allocation and program evaluation.

Purpose: This study aims to—

1. Describe the estimated number of women ages 40–64 eligible for breast cancer screening funded by the AWC! Program, and the proportion of eligible women screened at the state and county level in 2014.
2. Describe trends in the number of women eligible and the percent of women screened for breast cancer from 2006–2014.

Methods/Approach: We used data from the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) to estimate the annual percent of SD women eligible for the AWC! Program from 2006–2014. The AWC! data was analyzed to describe the number of unduplicated women screened and to calculate the proportion of eligible women aged 40–64 who received a program-funded mammogram over the same period.

Results: In 2014, the estimated number of SD women aged 40–64 years, uninsured and below the 200% Federal Poverty line was 7,205 (5%), and the proportion of women screened was 15% (N=1062). Among the 66 counties, the estimated proportion of AWC!-eligible women varied from 3% to 15% and the proportion who were screened varied from zero to 50% in the same year. For the period of 2006 to 2014, a decrease of 1% in the estimated percent of women eligible to the program was observed (from 7,309–7,205). Meanwhile, an increase of 1% in the proportion of women screened (14% to 15%) occurred from 2006–2014. However, the proportion of women screened fell from 22–23% in 2008–2012 to 15% in 2014.

Conclusions/Implications: We estimated that the AWC! Program screened approximately 15% of the eligible population in 2014. The proportion of women screened varied substantially across counties. In addition, a decline in the proportion of women screened was observed from 2012–2014.