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Residents of rural communities have decreased access to cancer screening and treatments compared to urban residents, though use of resources and patient outcomes have not been assessed with a comprehensive population-based analysis. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether breast cancer screening and treatments were utilized less frequently in rural BC and whether this translated into differences in outcomes.

All patients diagnosed with breast cancer in British Columbia (BC) during 2002 were identified from the Cancer Registry and linked to the Screening Mammography database. Patient demographics, pathology, stage, treatments, mammography use and death data were abstracted. Patients were categorized as residing in large, small and rural local health authorities (LHAs) using Canadian census …