Participation of the immigrant population in breast cancer screening in Tarragona, Spain

Objective: To evaluate the differences between autochthonous and allochthonous women's participation in a breast cancer screening programme. Method: Retrospective study based on data from the Breast Cancer Screening Programme of the province of Tarragona (2008-2015). The sample is the target population of the programme with known country of origin. Results: Cohort of 40,824 women. Allochthonous women participate less than autochthonous women (41.8% vs. 72.3%) although they have a similar global detection rate to the latter but with differences according to the human development index of their country of origin. Both groups present similar tumour stages on detection (p = .59). Conclusions: Strategies specifically aimed at the immigrant population are required to improve their participation in breast cancer screening. (C) 2018 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).