BOSTON-December 28, 2005-Many older breast cancer survivors do not undergo annual mammography despite recommendations, found Nancy Keating, an assistant professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
Only three quarters of women (77.6 percent) had a mammogram 7-18 months after being diagnosed with breast cancer, and only 56.7 percent had a mammogram annually three years after being diagnosed. These findings are published by Keating and colleagues in the Jan. 2, 2006 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The study also shows that women who are older, black, unmarried, and living in certain regions were less likely than other women to have mammograms. National guidelines recommend strongly that all breast cancer survivors undergo annual mammography because they face an increased risk of new or recurrent breast cancer.
"These disparities are concerning because they are unlikely to be related to appropriateness of care," Keating said.
Patients who visited their doctors more frequently and who continued to see a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, or surgeon were most likely to have mammograms. Access to cancer specialists did not explain the disparities that were observed, Keating said.
The study demonstrates that new strategies are needed to increase use of surveillance mammography.