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. 2021 Dec;23(6):1223-1231.
doi: 10.1007/s10903-020-01107-1. Epub 2020 Oct 10.

Mammographic Breast Density and Acculturation: Longitudinal Analysis in Chinese Immigrants

Rebeca Almeida  1 , Carolyn Y Fang  2 , Celia Byrne  3 , Marilyn Tseng  4
Affiliations

Mammographic Breast Density and Acculturation: Longitudinal Analysis in Chinese Immigrants

Rebeca Almeida et al. J Immigr Minor Health. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Asian American women have experienced steadily increasing breast cancer incidence rates over the past several decades. The increased rate might be in part due to acculturation. We tested the hypothesis that higher level of acculturation was associated with higher mammographic breast density (MBD), an indicator of breast cancer risk, in a cohort of 425 premenopausal Chinese immigrant women in Philadelphia. Generalized estimating equations accounted for repeated observations and adjusted for age, type of mammographic image, body mass index, months of breastfeeding, number of live births, age at first birth, and menopausal stage (pre, early peri, late peri, post). Results indicated that acculturation level was not associated with any of the MBD measures. Findings were contrary to our hypothesis and previous, cross-sectional studies. In this study population, reproductive factors had a greater effect on MBD than acculturation-related behaviors in adulthood.

Keywords: Acculturation; Asian; Breast cancer; Immigrants; Mammographic breast density.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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