Abstract 3715: Increasing access for disparate women to participate in breast cancer research

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL The purpose of our study is to increase recruitment of rural and disparate populations within the Spit for the Cure Breast Cancer Cohort. The Spit for the Cure Breast Cancer Cohort being established at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences provides a repository of information and DNA samples to study breast cancer in Southern women. Currently, over 19,000 women from Arkansas and surrounding states have been recruited into the cohort. Demographics of the cohort closely match the demographics of the state of Arkansas, though our cohort is better educated and younger on average than the state's overall female population. One of our goals is to over-sample disparate populations in rural areas, which presents many challenges; these areas tend to have sparse populations which are located in largely agricultural areas of Arkansas. Furthermore, it has been reported in literature that a lower percentage of minority populations and rural populations participate in biorepositories and cancer research. These are the same populations that suffer from limited access to health services. The assumption is that these populations are not willing to participate in cancer research; however, we hypothesize that disparate populations would enroll in research studies if given access to research opportunities. As a novel method for reaching underrepresented populations, Spit for the Cure recruiters collaborated with a mobile mammography unit, the Mammovan, based out of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. We compared the demographics of participants recruited through community events in Southeast Arkansas, whose residents live in the rural Delta region, to recruitment from the Mammovan in that same region. Mammovan participants from Southeast Arkansas had a lower education level compared to women in that same area recruited through community events; 53.7% of Mammovan participants had no education beyond high school, compared to 25% of community participants (p-value <0.0001). Also, a greater proportion of African American women were recruited through the Mammovan (40.3%) compared to community events (31.1%) within the southeast region (p-value 0.01). Overall, the recruitment of Mammovan participants more closely reflects the actual demographics of the population of Southeast Arkansas. Interestingly, a high proportion of the Mammovan participants (81.8%) reported having had a mammogram prior to their Mammovan experience; indicating that these marginalized groups with limited access to health care facilities, are still able to leverage available resources in order to address their health needs. In conclusion, traveling with the mobile mammography unit is a valuable resource for the Spit for the Cure Breast Cancer Cohort to recruit disparate populations, who are in fact willing to participate, in order to more accurately mirror the demographics of Arkansas women. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3715. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3715