Purpose: Although the population of women aged 80+ is increasing, there is little information on the benefits and burdens of mammography screening for these women to guide their decision-making.
Methods: To collect this information, we performed a cohort study using the online medical record at one large academic medical center and two community health centers in
Results: Of 2,023 women aged 80+ without a history of breast cancer, 78.7% were non-Hispanic white and 64.2% had private insurance. Over half (52.5%) had at least one screening mammogram since age 80. The mean time of chart data available for women in their 80’s before death or 12/31/06 was 5.5 years (SD 3.3). The table below presents our findings.
Conclusions: Women aged 80+ who were screened with mammography were much more likely to undergo diagnostic testing for work-up of breast cancer, experience a benign breast biopsy, and/or receive a diagnosis of DCIS than women who were not screened. Regardless of screening, most women aged 80+ were diagnosed with early stage disease. Although more women aged 80+ who were not screened died of breast cancer these results were not significant and overall few women aged 80+ died of breast cancer. These data can be used to help women aged 80+ decide whether or not to undergo mammography screening. No Screening mammos since 80 (n=962) Screening mammos since 80 (n=1,061) p value Follow up time 4.5 years 6.4 years <0.0001 Total screening mammos since 80 0 2,968 <0.0001 Abnormal screening mammos 0 139 <0.0001 Diagnostic mammos 37 129 <0.0001 Breast ultrasounds 25 53 0.01 Breast biopsies 25 45 0.06 Benign breast biopsy 2 15 0.003 Atypical ductal hyperplasia 2 2 0.92 Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) 0 1 0.34 Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) 0 8 0.01 Invasive breast tumors: 21 19 0.53 Stage I 16 12 0.44 Stage II 4 5 (Test of Stage III 0 1 Trend) Stage IV 1 1 Required secondary treatment; Alive 1 0 0.53 Breast cancer deaths 3 1 0.39 Non-breast cancer deaths 467 408 <0.0001 Alive after 12/31/2006 277 463 Uncertain (awaiting NDI data for 06) 215 189