Having a personal healthcare provider and receipt of adequate cervical and breast cancer screening

Introduction: the purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between having a personal health care provider and adequate cervical and breast cancer screening behavior. methods: cross-sectional data were obtained from the 2004 behavior risk factor surveillance system. for cervical cancer,female respondents 18 years of age and older who did not have hysterectomy were included (n = 130,359); for breast cancer,female respondents 40 years of age or older were included (n = 129,929). multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between having a personal health care provider,specific demographics,and health insurance status with adequate cervical and breast cancer screening behavior. results: approximately 9% and 14% of the study population for the breast cancer and cervical cancer analyses,respectively,did not have a personal health care provider. having at least one personal health care provider was significantly associated with adequate cervical cancer screening behavior (odds ratio,2.37; 95% ci,2.08 -2.70) and breast cancer screening behavior (odds ratio,2.86; 95% ci,2.54 -3.24) in multivariate analyses. both multivariate analyses were adjusted for age,race/ethnicity,education,income,and health insurance. conclusion: having at least one personal health care provider was associated with adequate cervical and breast cancer screening behavior. efforts to increase primary care access are a necessary part of the plan to increase preventive health services utilization.