U.S women abstain from Breast Cancer Test

According to a survey by the American Cancer Society, fewer U.S women are getting their Breast Cancer Tests, called mammography, done, leading to lesser progress in controlling the deadly disease at its initial stages as revealed in their online journal, Cancer, on Monday.

Nancy Breen, who led the analysis expressed her anxiety over the matter by saying that it was a very troubling issue. “If women are not getting mammograms, then their cancer may not be diagnosed until later stages, which could translate into higher mortality from breast cancer. It comes as a surprise because there's no reason you'd think there'd be a drop in mammography", she added.

The reasons for such an attitude are attributed to factors like delay in appointments, insurance issues, fear of positive results, the drop in hormone use after menopause and the actual benefits and risks of such tests.

Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women. It is a malignant form of tumor spreading quickly to the bones, hips, lungs and in some, the brain. One in ten women is likely to develop breast cancer and almost 75% would do so after menopause. Besides hereditary or genetic factors, some other causes of this form of tumor are early puberty, late menopause, not having a child or having a first child after age 30. Risk is considerably lowered if one has short menstrual life, large family or first child before the age of 18.

A study by the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the breast cancer X-ray test trend picked up pace in 1987 but significantly declined by 4% during 2000-2005 initially after a year’s stagnation.

40,000 adults formed a sample of the ongoing survey collected by the National Health Interview Survey and was analysed by the National Health Interview Survey.

Mammography growth rate of women in the age group of 40 and above dropped by 6% from 2000 to 2005 and that too among affluent and better educated women as per the data collected from a sample of 10,000 women.

U.S women being more prone to breast cancer have worried the cancer experts as lesser tests would lead to late detection of the disease and would decrease the survival rates among victims. When caught early, localized cancers can be removed without resorting to breast removal, called mastectomy.

Doctors treat mammograms, an X-ray photograph of the breast, as the most important tool for easy diagnosis and evaluation of women having breast cancer and Leading experts, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the American College of Radiology now recommend annual mammograms for women over 40.

Mammograms don't prevent breast cancer, but they can save lives by finding breast cancer as early as possible.