Today’s WaPo issues this report that fewer women are getting mammograms.
After rising steadily for decades, the proportion of U.S. women
getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer has dropped for the
first time, federal researchers are reporting today.The overall
rate at which women are undergoing regular mammograms fell 4 percent
between 2000 and 2005, marking the first significant decline since use
of the breast X-rays started expanding rapidly in 1987, the study by
the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found.The reasons remain unclear, but researchers
speculated that it could be due to factors such as increasingly long
waiting times to get appointments, waning fears about breast cancer,
the drop in hormone use after menopause, and the ongoing debate over
the benefits and risks of the exams.
What this doesn’t account for are women getting other types of imaging of their breasts. Like MRI’s or ultrasounds. Isn’t it just a wee bit interesting that not long after
new recommendations for MRI’s was released, mammography is being pushed.
Another reason not discussed is insurance coverage. Many (all???) states have passed laws that require insurance companies to cover mammograms, but how good is that coverage? Nor does this article even address the multitudes of women that do not have insurance, and that are being denied screening under the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Act.
Also, earlier this year, (January 26,2007) the CDC found the decline was just under 2%, a far smaller number than is being reported in today’s WaPo. So, which is the correct number?
I have very mixed feelings about mammography, particularly when the false positives and false negatives are so high, and wish that there was other alternatives that are more reliable, and less painful.
