Screening mammograms can save lives
Breast cancer causes more than 40,000 deaths in women each year in the United States. Deaths due to breast cancer have decreased over time, yet some groups experience more deaths than others. For example, Black women, women who are uninsured, and women with low incomes are more likely to die from breast cancer. Screening mammograms have been shown to reduce breast cancer death by 22%.
Women face challenges to getting mammograms
The more health-related social needs a woman has in her life, the less likely she is to be up to date with mammograms that screen for breast cancer. Health-related social needs are adverse social conditions that can be barriers to a person’s health or health care. Examples include social isolation, job loss, lack of reliable transportation, insecurity around food or housing, and cost to access health care. Cost to access health care is one of the biggest challenges.
Regular mammograms can find breast cancer early
Getting screening mammograms regularly can help find breast cancer early when it is easier to treat. Women ages 50 to 74 years should get a screening mammogram every 2 years, as currently recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force is a group of doctors and disease experts who look at research on the best way to prevent diseases. This group makes recommendations on how doctors can help patients avoid diseases or find them early. Women ages 40 to 49 years should talk to their health care providers about when to start and how often to get a mammogram.
Only about 3 in 4 women ages 50 to 74 years were up to date with their mammograms in 2022. More women need to get screening mammograms that can save lives.
- Health-related social needs can have an impact on a woman’s chance of being up to date with her mammogram. For example, women are less likely to get a mammogram if they feel socially isolated, have lost a job, or don’t have reliable transportation. The more health-related social needs a woman has, the less likely she is to have a mammogram. Only about 7 in 10 women ages 50 to 74 years with three or more health-related social needs were up to date with mammograms, compared to about 8 in 10 of those with no health-related social needs.
- The cost of accessing health care was the greatest challenge for women who did not receive a mammogram in the past 2 years.
- Women without health insurance, who had low incomes, and who did not have a usual source of health care were less likely to get mammograms.
Health-related social needs can lower a woman’s chance of being up to date with her mammogram
Women are more likely to get lifesaving mammograms when their health-related social needs are met.
Women who were not experiencing health-related social needs were more likely to receive a mammogram
The more health-related social needs a woman experiences, the less likely she is to receive a mammogram.
To Address Health-Related Social Needs
Identify specific health-related social needs that individual women experience, and coordinate efforts between health care, social services, community organizations, and public health to provide services that reduce the impact of these needs. For example, improving access to care and providing reliable transportation by coordinating referrals between health care, social services, community organizations, and public health helps ensure women are able to get recommended mammograms.
Access to free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening services is available for women who have low incomes and are uninsured through state, tribe, and territory health departments funded by CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. Mammograms are available at no cost through most private health insurance plans and Medicare.
Programs also help women overcome barriers to health care. For example, Nevada’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program hired community health workers to find out what would help women with low incomes get screening and connect women to needed services. Tennessee’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program provided free rides to appointments.
To Address Health-Related Social Needs
Identify specific health-related social needs that individual women experience, and coordinate efforts between health care, social services, community organizations, and public health to provide services that reduce the impact of these needs. For example, improving access to care and providing reliable transportation by coordinating referrals between health care, social services, community organizations, and public health helps ensure women are able to get recommended mammograms.
Access to free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screening services is available for women who have low incomes and are uninsured through state, tribe, and territory health departments funded by CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. Mammograms are available at no cost through most private health insurance plans and Medicare.
Programs also help women overcome barriers to health care. For example, Nevada’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program hired community health workers to find out what would help women with low incomes get screening and connect women to needed services. Tennessee’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program provided free rides to appointments.
Women ages 50 to 74 years who are at average risk for breast cancer should get a screening mammogram every 2 years.
This will help find breast cancer early when treatment works best. Average risk refers to women without a strong family history of breast cancer, without changes in certain breast cancer genes, and who have not had chest radiation.
Women who are 40 to 49 years old should talk to their doctor about when to start and how often to get a mammogram.
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