Journal Article

Mammography screening and mortality by risk status in the California teachers study

Anton-Culver, Hoda, Park, Hannah Lui, Ziogas, Argyrios, Chang, Jenny, Haridass, Vikram, Wang, Sophia S.

2021

Overview

Background The debate continues among medical professionals regarding the frequency, starting age, and stopping age for mammography screening. Some experts suggest tailoring recommendations based on individuals’ personal breast cancer risk. Previous studies have not compared the impact of annual versus biennial mammography stratified by age group and risk category. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mammography frequency and mortality by age group and risk category in the California Teachers Study. Methods Using data from study questionnaires from 93,438 women between the ages of 40 and 85 and linkages to the California Cancer Registry and other indices, overall and breast cancer-specific mortality by mammography frequency were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models, stratified by age group and risk category at baseline as determined by the Gail breast cancer risk model. Results During the follow-up period of 20 years, overall mortality risk was lower in women who had annual or biennial mammography compared to less frequent or no mammography in all age groups. Annual mammography was associated with lower overall mortality risk compared to biennial mammography among women age 50–85. This difference was especially apparent in women age 60–74, regardless of estimated Gail risk category at baseline. Breast cancer-specific mortality was lower among women who had annual mammography compared to biennial or less frequent mammography among women age 60–74, regardless of their baseline risk. Conclusions Our findings suggest that at least biennial mammography is beneficial to most women age 40–85 and that annual mammography is more beneficial than biennial mammography to most women age 50–85 in terms of overall mortality.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Age / Age Factors / Age groups / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Breast - diagnostic imaging / Breast cancer / Breast cancer risk / Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis / Breast Neoplasms - mortality / California - epidemiology / Cancer Research / Cohort analysis / Cohort study / Diabetes / Diagnosis / Early Detection of Cancer - standards / Early Detection of Cancer - statistics & numerical data / Endocrine therapy / Ethnicity / Family medical history / Female / Follow-Up Studies / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Heart attacks / Humans / Longitudinal Studies / Mammography / Mammography - standards / Mammography - statistics & numerical data / Medical personnel / Medical screening / Medicine/Public Health / Menopause / Methods / Middle Aged / Mortality / Oncology / Patient outcomes / Practice Guidelines as Topic / Prospective Studies / Questionnaires / Risk Assessment - statistics & numerical data / Risk factors / Surgical Oncology / Time Factors / Womens health