Addressing the Health Needs of Indian Americans in the Greater Philadelphia Region Through a Scoping Survey: Cancer Screening Assessment

Thoin F Begum, Dasam Jeong, Lin Zhu, Vidya S Patil, Jade Truehart, Ellen Kim, Wenyue Lu, Somnath Dey, Grace X Ma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Despite higher income and education, there are profound health disparities among Asian Americans. These disparities are highlighted in particular by screening behaviors for cancer. Between 1998 and 2008, cancer rates increased threefold among Indian Americans, raising concern that cancer screening in this group may be especially low. To better understand cancer screening behavior, we collected data from a total of 157 self-identifying Indian Americans residing in the greater Philadelphia area. Nearly all participants reported having health insurance (98.7%), and most had received a physical exam within a year (87.3%). Only17.4% of the participants were referred for mammography, while 30% of participants over age 30 were referred for ovarian cancer screening. Just 4 participants were recommended for pancreatic cancer screening. The findings contribute new information to the understanding of health needs of Indian Americans residing in the greater Philadelphia region and reveal a need for greater focus on preventive care.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1118-1122
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Community Health
Volume49
Issue number6
Early online dateJul 7 2024
DOIs
StateE-pub ahead of print - Jul 7 2024

Keywords

  • Community health
  • Dietary behaviors
  • Needs assessment
  • Noncommunicable diseases
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Early Detection of Cancer/statistics & numerical data
  • Indians, North American/statistics & numerical data
  • Mammography/statistics & numerical data
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Aged
  • Neoplasms/ethnology
  • Philadelphia
  • Needs Assessment

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