Women Who Stop HRT Skip Mammograms Too
New research reveals an unforeseen consequence of women going off HRT.
Aug. 22, 2011— -- Some women under age 64 who ditched hormone replacement therapy (HRT) because of its potential links with breast cancer also stopped screening mammography, researchers found.
Women ages 50 to 64 had lower breast cancer screening rates after they stopped taking HRT, Nancy Breen of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., and colleagues reported online in Cancer.
Yet there was no association between HRT and mammography screening in women 65 and older, they wrote, indicating that "age was strongly associated with mammography use."
In 2005, mammography rates in the United States dropped for the first time among eligible women. The increased risk of cancer related to hormone therapy detected in the Women's Health Initiative had been reported just three years earlier, in 2002, leading to a significant decline in use by 2005, the researchers said.
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Screening likely declined as well because women on therapy needed to consult their physicians to renew their prescriptions; doctors, in turn, probably used that consultation to talk about the benefits of screening mammography. Fewer visits led to fewer opportunities for discussion, Breen and colleagues said.
So to examine whether the declines in hormone therapy and screening mammography were related, the researchers looked at data from the 2000 and 2005 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on over 14,000 patients.
They found that women ages 50 to 64 were more likely to report a recent screening mammogram if they had higher levels of education; had a usual source of care; were covered by private health insurance; were any race except Asian; talked with a doctor in the last year; or were currently on HRT.
Women 65 and older were more likely to report having been screened if they were younger (age 65 to 74); had more education; had a usual source of care; were on Medicare Part B or another supplemental Medicare insurance; were in excellent health; were any race except Asian; had spoken with their doctor in the last year; or were currently taking HRT.
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