Low-income American women are much less likely to get mammograms – study

Women who are low-income, socially isolated and without health insurance are much less likely to get mammograms, a breast cancer screening tool that experts say is critical to reducing breast cancer deaths. new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting American women, killing an estimated 40,000 Americans every year. Cancer kills a total of 605,000 Americans a year and is the second leading cause of death, a toll that the Biden administration wants to reduce through a Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

“The bottom line is that women are more likely to get lifesaving mammograms if their social needs are met,” said Dr. Jacqueline Miller, medical director of CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, and one of the lead authors of the study.

The study analyzed data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a landline and mobile phone survey of the civilian population over 18 years of age. As part of the survey, women over 40 were asked if they had ever had a mammogram, and if so, when their last test was. Doctors recommend that women between the ages of 45 and 54 have a mammogram every year, and every two years thereafter.

Researchers found that fewer women had mammograms when they experienced other social hardships, such as a lack of health insurance, fewer hours at work or being laid off, feeling socially isolated and a lack of transportation, and when medical care was expensive.

Women who experienced more than three types of social needs had worse mammography rates dramatic differences between states. Only 44% of women in Wyoming who experienced more than three types of social deprivation had a recent mammogram, compared to 78% in Rhode Island.

Notably, black women reported getting more mammograms overall. The result is surprising because while black women and white women are diagnosed with breast cancer at about the same rate, so are black women 40% more likely to die of the disease. Because the survey is self-reported, Miller said the survey may be prone to over- or under-reporting.

Although health disparities between demographic groups are multifactorial, disparities between black and white Americans are thought to exist across a broad spectrum of health measures the result of systemic racism.

Researchers say if the U.S. wants to reduce the burden of breast cancer deaths, it must ensure women are connected to social services — including reliable transportation, low-cost mammograms through local health departments and health care even if they don’t have health insurance.