(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Most young women treated with chest radiation for
childhood cancer don't undergo the recommended mammography screening, a new
study finds.
There are currently 20,000 to 25,000 women 25 years or older who were treated
for pediatric cancer with moderate- to high-dose chest radiation. These women
have an increased risk of developing breast cancer later in life, an increase
that begins as early as eight years following radiation. A breast cancer
diagnosis for these women is typically made between the ages of 32 and 35. By
age 45, 12 to 20 percent of those survivors will discover they have the most
common cancer among women.
Experts recommend these women start annual mammography screenings when they are
25 years old or eight years after their radiation treatment, but a new study
reveals many are not taking this critical step.
In
a study by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y., 625 female
survivors of pediatric cancer between ages 25 and 50 who had received chest
radiation therapy (RT) filled out a questionnaire. Results revealed 36.5 percent
of those ages 25 to 39 had a screening mammogram within the past two years while
47.3 percent had never had a mammogram and only 23.3 percent had one performed
in the past year. Women ages 25 through 39 were three times more likely to have
had a mammogram when their physician recommended the test.
Women ages 40 to 50 were more likely to have had a mammogram performed; 76.5
percent had a screening within the past two years. Still, only a little more
than half of the women in this age group (52.6 percent) had been screened
regularly.
"Findings from this study should provide the foundation for targeted
interventions involving both clinicians and cancer survivors," study authors
wrote.
SOURCE: JAMA, 2009;301:404-414
