HHS HealthBeat (February 16, 2009)

Needing follow-up

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Women who had chest radiation treatment for cancer before they turned 21 are at higher risk of developing breast cancer. So doctors recommend yearly mammograms.

A study indicates, though, many women miss the checkup.

Kevin Oeffinger of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City looked at data on about 550 women:

"We anticipated that, because many of these women are unaware of the risks and their physicians might not be aware of the risks, that the breast cancer screening rates would be low. But they were much lower than we even expected." (10 seconds)

For instance, 47 percent of women ages 25 through 39 never had a mammogram. The X-ray can help spot cancer early.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 17 2009