Mammogram message unheeded, stats show
Monday, June 21, 2004 Posted: 9:20 AM EDT (1320 GMT)
... The message still hasn't gotten out that mammography will save lives.
-- Dr. Herman Kattlove, medical editor American Cancer Society
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- After more than a decade of urging by doctors that women over 40 should receive mammograms yearly, few actually do so, according to a large cancer study.
Only 6 percent of women who received a mammogram in 1992 received mammograms yearly for the next 10 years, according to a study of 72,417 women of all ages at Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest look at mammography to date.
The American Cancer Society recommends that all women 40 and older receive a mammogram and a breast exam yearly. Younger women are encouraged to receive a breast exam every three years.
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/conditions/06/21/mammograms.ap/index.html