FRIDAY, Sept. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Foreign-born U.S. women are becoming more likely to undergo mammograms to screen for breast cancer, but native-born women still outpace them, a new study reports.

"There is progress, overall, in use of mammography among foreign-born women in the United States, but there is still a lot of work to do to improve their use of recommended breast cancer screening," study lead researcher Nengliang (Aaron) Yao, a doctoral student in health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, said in a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study authors said foreign-born women are less likely to get breast cancer screening due to factors such as lack of health insurance and a regular place to get health care.

The researchers studied mammography screening in the United States from 2000 to 2008 by looking at results from a national survey.

Over the eight years, the percentage of immigrant women who underwent screening grew from 60.2 to 65.5 percent. The researchers attributed the rise to more "culturally and linguistically appropriate subsidized programs."

The study findings were released Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities, in Washington, D.C.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about breast cancer.