New research makes the case for educating women in their 40s, who’ve been caught in the crossfire of a decades-long debate about whether to be screened for breast cancer with mammograms, about the harms as well as the benefits of the exam. After a nationally representative sample of U.S.
women between the ages of 39 and 49 learned about the pros and cons of mammography, more than twice as many elected to wait until they turn 50 to get screened, a study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine found. Most women have absorbed the widely broadcast message that screening mammography saves lives by the time they enter middle age. But many remain unaware of the costs of routine screening in their 40s – in false-positive results, unnecessary biopsies, anxiety and debilitating treatment for tumors that left alone would do no harm.
“In an ideal world, all women would get this information and then get to have their further questions answered by their doctor and come up with a screening plan that is right for them given their preferences, their values and their risk level,” said social psychologist Laura Scherer, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of research in the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Of 495 women surveyed, only 8% initially said they wanted to wait until they turned 50 to get a mammogram. After researchers informed the women of the benefits and the harms, 18% said they would wait until 50.
'We're not being honest' Learning ab.