Background Breast cancer incidence is considerably lower among Japanese and Chinese women than among Caucasian and Native Hawaiian even in second and third generation migrants. Mammographic densities, which refer to the radiological appearance of the healthy female breast, are related to breast cancer risk. The purpose of this project was to explore the hypothesis that women from ethnic groups at high breast cancer risk are more likely to have high levels of densities than women from low breast cancer risk groups.
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The reasons for these differences are unclear. Breast density, an important risk factor for breast cancer, has not previously been studied here. Linear regression of the natural logarithm of absolute and percent density values was used, back-transformed and expressed as the ratio of the geometric means. Covariates were age, x-ray system and, for absolute density, the natural log of the volume of non-dense tissue a proxy for body mass index. Asian women had the greatest risk of high percentage breast density 1. As well as expected age differences, we found differential patterns of breast density by ethnicity consistent with ethnic differences seen in breast cancer risk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Native Hawaiian women have the highest breast cancer incidence and mortality rates when compared with other large ethnic groups in Hawai'i. Like other women, they rely on the support of their families as co-survivors. This project explored the feasibility and effects of a culturally tailored educational intervention designed to build family capacity by improving the knowledge and skills of the woman and her family in dealing with breast cancer, particularly in the latter stage of recovery care. The authors assessed the knowledge, self-efficacy, and coping skills of women and their family members and the recovery care behaviors of the women at baseline and at four months after the intervention or control period. The intervention group made significant improvements in self-efficacy and coping; the wait-list control group did not. Evaluation of the intervention suggests that it was well received by participants.
Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. Like other women, they rely on the support of their families as co-survivors. This project explored the feasibility and effects of a culturally tailored educational intervention designed to build family capacity by improving the knowledge and skills of the woman and her family in dealing with breast cancer, particularly in the latter stage of recovery care. The authors assessed the knowledge, self-efficacy, and coping skills of women and their family members and the recovery care behaviors of the women at baseline and at four months after the intervention or control period. The intervention group made significant improvements in self-efficacy and coping; the wait-list control group did not. Evaluation of the intervention suggests that it was well received by participants. This work has relevance for social workers wanting to design and test culturally appropriate interventions for minority groups.