Geographic mobility and cancer screening in hispanic/Latinas living in the northeast, US

Background: The Northeast, US, and Connecticut in particular, is undergoing a major socio-demographic transformation driven by a significant uptick in immigration. The majority of the CT Hispanic/Latino/a (H/L) population is foreign born with ties to the Caribbean or Latin America and tends to be relatively transient. Using mixed methods, we sought to characterize geographic mobility or “paciente transitorio” status and understand its impact on cancer screening in H/Las living in the Northeast, U.S. Methods: Following a structured format, we conducted 5 focus groups in urban, community-living H/Ls (37 women, ages 35 and older) who had travelled outside CT in the previous 2 years. We expanded these efforts with a quantitative analysis of 319 women who received primary care in urban settings in 4 cities in CT. Results: Quantitative: Among 250 foreign born women in our cohort, 9.6% left the continental US for a month or more in the previous 2 years. Those who travelled were older (p = .02), had greater comorbidity (p =.05), yet were more likely to have a usual care provider (p=.02). Geographic mobility was not associated with receipt of screening mammogram in previous year. Qualitative: Preliminary results indicate that geographically mobile H/Las prefer to receive non-emergency care, including screening, from their usual source in CT. While communication within the health care setting was better when receiving care in their home countries, quality of care was better in the US. Conclusions: Geographic mobility is not a significant barrier to receiving screening mammograms among low-income H/Las living in the Northeast, US.