Following the US Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendation against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, preventive mammography rates in this age group have dropped nearly 6% nationwide, according to a Mayo Clinic analysis.
Using a national representative database of 100 health plans including 8 million women aged 40 to 64 years, researchers identified the number of screening mammograms performed between January 2006 and December 2010.
Researchers discovered that the recommendations were linked to a 5.72% decrease in the mammography rate for women aged 40 to 49 years when rates before and after publication of the new guidelines were compared. Over a year, mammograms declined by nearly 54,000 in this age group.
“For the first year after the guidelines changed, there was a small but significant decrease in the rate of mammography for women ages 40-49,” says coauthor Nilay Shah, PhD, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. “This is consistent with the context of the guidelines change. A modest effect is also in line with the public resistance to the guidelines change and the subsequent release of conflicting guidelines.”
For women in their 40s, screening mammograms can detect breast abnormalities early. Findings from a large study in Sweden of more than 1 million women in their 40s who received screening mammograms showed a 29% decline in breast cancer deaths.
Mayo Clinic continues to recommend an annual screening mammogram beginning at age 40, in line with recommendations from the American Cancer Society. “Screening mammography is not a perfect exam, but it is the best available tool to detect cancer early,” says Sandhya Pruthi, MD, consultant in Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic. “Early detection can lead to better options and possibly less-aggressive treatments.”
Source: Mayo Clinic.
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