Don't Forget Your Screening!

Released: Friday, November 20, 2009

Yet Another Reason Not to Forget Your Annual Breast Screening!!!

by Devin Muller

3 in 4 Deaths Occur in Women Who Don't Have Regular Mammograms!

Shocking numbers by any measure; even more shocking when the numbers may be dramatically affected according to a large study*.

Researchers studied just under 7,000 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in Massachusetts between 1990 and 1999. Surveys indicated that 80% had regular mammograms.

Over the next 13 years, there were 461 deaths from breast cancer. 75% were among women who did not receive regular mammograms and 25% were among women who were regularly screened.

The researchers then extrapolated the results to the more than 192,000 women who will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in the U.S. this year.  It's estimated that, overall, 15% of these women will die over the next 13 years**.

But when looked at by their mammogram history, only 5% of those who were regularly screened are expected to die by 2022, he says.

In contrast, 56% of those who skipped regular mammograms are expected to die over the same period of 13 years -- a rate similar to 1970, before the widespread use of mammography.

The recent economic climate, job loss rapidly increasing causing more and more individuals and families to go without insurance, the fear of false-positives leading to further & more invasive detection tools... There are a number of barriers as to why individuals are going without screenings.  But with the release of this study the hope is that the "powerful figures" will convince more women to have regular mammograms... ideally every year starting at age 40.

*Charlene Laino, WebMD*

**Blake Cady, MD, emeritus professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School**