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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Researchers Alarmed by Declining Mammography Use
Among Older Women
Years of increased use was followed by decline in
breast cancer mortality
 May 14, 2007 As older women began stepping up for
mammography the rate of breast cancer mortality in the U.S. began to
decline. Researchers are now alarmed to find the use of mammography has
begun to decline. The sharpest decline is among older women between 50
and 64 years old; and those in higher socioeconomic groups.
Since 2000 mammography rates have declined
significantly in the United States, according to a new study in the June
15, 2007 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer
Society. The study by Dr. Nancy Breen from the National Cancer Institute
and co-authors confirms that screening mammography rates to detect
breast cancer fell by as much as four percent nationwide between 2000
and 2005.
This is the first study to show that the trend is
nationwide among women for whom the test is intended to reduce mortality
risk.
Regular mammography is the most efficacious
screening test for the early detection of breast cancer available to
women today. Not only does it detect early tumors in breast tissue, but
also its widespread use by women over 40 years old since the 1980s has
lead to a reduction in breast cancer mortality in the United States.
After years of increasing incidence, the rate of
new breast cancer diagnoses has recently declined.
How much of that drop is due to changes in
mammography use has been the subject of debate. Prior reports show that
between 1987 and 2000, screening rates among women over 40 years old
increased from just 39 percent to 70 percent.
However, evidence from some states and localities
suggest that mammography rates have declined, putting at risk the
decline in mortality rates previously observed. Dr. Breen and her
co-investigators reviewed data from the National Health Interview Survey
from 1987 to 2005 to estimate mammography screening rates.
Dr. Breen found that between 1987 and 2000, there
was a steady increase in the use of mammography for women over 40 years
old, while rates were relatively flat from 2000 to 2003.
However, in 2005 screening fell by four percent
compared to rates observed in 2000.
This decline was significant for women over age 50.
Some of the sharpest declines were seen among women
who previously reported high screening rates: women between 50 and 64
years old; and women in higher socioeconomic levels.
This decline in screening is also noted to have
coincided with a decline in reported incidence of breast cancer. Dr.
Breen and her co-authors say they "are concerned that some of the
observed decline in incidence may be due in part to the leveling off and
reduction in mammography rates."
The researchers recommend "continued monitoring of
trends in incidence, screening, and their underlying factors" and
"consider what types of interventions would be needed should these
downward trends continue."
Editors Notes:
Article: "Reported Drop in Mammography: Is This
Cause for Concern"," Nancy Breen, Kathleen A. Cronin, Helen I. Meissner,
Stephen H. Taplin, Florence K. Tangka, Jasmin A. Tiro, Timothy S. McNeel,
CANCER; Published Online: May 14, 2007 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr. 22723); Print
Issue Date: June 15, 2007.
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