Objective To explore attendance at organised mammographic screening among immigrant groups that received an invitation letter and information leaflet (invitation) in their language of origin and Norwegian compared with Norwegian only.
Design Randomised controlled trial.
Setting Population based screening programme for breast cancer in Norway (BreastScreen Norway), which invites women aged 50-69 to two-view mammographic screening biennially.
Participants All women invited to BreastScreen Norway in the study period April 2021 to June 2022 whose language of origin was Arabic (women born in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, or Morocco), English (women born in the Philippines), Polish (women born in Poland), Somali (women born in Somalia), or Urdu (women born in Pakistan) (n=11 347).
Intervention The study group received an invitation to screening in their language of origin and in Norwegian, whereas the control group received an invitation in Norwegian only during the study period.
Main outcome measure Attendance at BreastScreen Norway during the study period.
Results Overall attendance was 46.5% (2642/5683) in the study group and 47.4% (2682/5664) in the control group. No statistical differences in attendance were observed after stratification by language of invitation, age at invitation, or years since immigration.
Conclusions No difference in attendance was observed between immigrant women invited to BreastScreen Norway in their language of origin and in Norwegian compared with Norwegian only. Several barriers to cancer screening may exist among immigrants, and translating the invitation is probably only a part of a complex explanation.
Trial registration NCT04672265.ClinicalTrials.gov [NCT04672265][1].
Research data used in the analyses can be made available on request, given legal basis according to the GDPR, Article 6 and 9, and that the processing is in accordance with Article 5, with additional national legal basis as per the regulations on population based health surveys. [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=CLINTRIALGOV&access_num=NCT04672265&atom=%2Fbmj%2F382%2Fbmj-2023-075465.atom
We’ve seen the numerous ways the evolution of technology has impacted everything from our classrooms to our courtrooms, and the healthcare industry is no exception.
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MUMBAI: Mucormycosis, which has a mortality rate of over 50% and can lead to blindness, is sweeping through parts of Maharashtra. Hospitals in Mumbai that are treating dozens of such cases from northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha said its spread is assuming epidemic proportions, so much so that regions have started facing a shortage of anti-fungal medicines.
Parel’s Global Hospital, which has started a dedicated clinic for mucormycosis after witnessing a surge in cases during the first wave, has 18 patients admitted at present. ENT surgeon Dr Milind Navalakhe, who is a part of the team that runs the clinic, said they have admitted 31 patients, of which 25 are from outside the city.