Free mammograms don't boost compliance rates. (Urban, Low-Income Patients).

CHICAGO -- Offering free mammograms to low-income women was not enough to encourage them to receive the tests in a study of 371 urban, low-income patients.

Although more than 90% of the women who were offered free mammograms agreed to schedule appointments for the procedure, slightly more than two-thirds of those women actually kept those appointments--a compliance rate similar to those paying usual rates, Dr. Jennifer Poast said at the combined annual meeting of the Midwestern medical organizations.

Study participants were randomized into free and usual pay groups. In both groups, 90% of the women agreed to schedule a mammogram, said Dr. Poast of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Of those women who scheduled appointments, 69% of those in the free exam group actually showed up for their appointments. That percentage is statistically similar to the 66% compliance rate in the usual pay group.

A logistic regression model showed that black women--who made up about 40% of both groups--were significantly less likely to make it to their appointment for a free mammogram vs. a paid one, with a likelihood ratio of 0.6. Age and education appeared to play little role in the difference between free and ...