Prior screening mammography linked to earlier stage at breast cancer diagnosis, lower breast cancer mortality<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
MONDAY, April 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Prior screening mammography is associated with earlier stage at breast cancer diagnosis and lower breast cancer mortality, according to a study published online April 15 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sida Huang, from the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues conducted a cohort study using linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare data of women aged at least 70 years, diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer from 2010 to 2017 to examine whether having a prior screening is associated with earlier stage at breast cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n Overall, 77.5 percent of 13,028 women had at least one prior screening. In addition, 29.3 percent of women were diagnosed with later-stage disease at the time of diagnosis (T2+ or N1+). The researchers found that compared with no prior screening, prior screening was associated with significantly lower odds of later-stage breast cancer diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio, 0.46) and a lower hazard of breast cancer-specific death (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.63), in multivariable analyses. Compared with having one prior screening, having three or four prior screenings was associated with a significantly reduced hazard of breast cancer-specific mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.63).<\/p>\n “Prior screening mammography was associated with earlier stage at breast cancer diagnosis and lower breast cancer mortality in women aged 70 years and older with screen-detected breast cancers,” the authors write. “Our findings support the potential for routine screening to improve breast cancer outcomes.”<\/p>\n One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry; a second author disclosed ties to Novian Health.<\/p>\n