Results of a new study show more American women are falling behind on getting critical breast cancer scans. Nowhere is this perhaps more important than in Iowa, a state that is among the nation’s leaders in lethal breast cancer cases.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. It claims about 40-thousand women every year. Researchers have historically broken down mammography use by state and demographics, but the Iowa Cancer Registry research director at the University of Iowa, Sarah Nash, says that for the first time, this study took critical social factors into account when studying mammography use…
Nash says the results of this study point to the need to address social drivers and not just healthcare access when figuring out who needs help and how they can get it. The C-D-C estimates that only 65-percent of women ages 50 to 74, with three or more health-related social needs, are up to date with their mammograms.
Despite acknowledging the social determinants that can stand between a woman and her mammogram, Nash and other researchers have said the number one factor is cost…
Scientists estimate early detection and treatment can reduce breast cancer deaths by almost a quarter.
(credit to Iowa News Service)
