Its Time! New Guidance for Breast Cancer Screening and Young Women
In the Journal of Health Promotion and Practice, written over ten years ago titled "An Applied Research Intervention: Breast Cancer and Preventive Services in African American Women" summarized that we needed to take a second look at the occurrence of breast cancer in young women aged 40 and younger. The article was a direct result of my dissertation findings discussing the need for the revision of the USPSTF Guidance and the urgent need to increase more awareness for minority young women. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPST) is now in the process of recommending that women should start getting screening mammograms for breast cancer at the age of 40 every two years. Numerous research about the prevalence of breast cancer in people younger than 50 has spurred the USPSTF to expand the recommendation for all women to get screened in their 40s. The real-life issue is that there is a disparity in treatment, diagnosis, and understanding related to aggressive breast cancer subtypes that have been widely unexplained. The disparity is that Black women are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than White women with more aggressive breast cancer subtypes cancers at young ages. What we know is that treatment can extend lives and lower risk for reoccurrence. This shift will make a huge difference because my findings were that many young women would like to avail themselves of service. The research shows that only 5% of breast cancer is contributed to genetics, which means the other 95% or higher is contributed to other factors (e.g., obesity, diet, age, hormones, alcohol etc.). In perspective, what we do know is being late in the job market can cost you your job, but we don't quite understand that being late with diagnosis can cost you your life.
An Applied Research Intervention: Breast Cancer and Preventive Services in African American - Women, Volume 14, Issue 5- September 2013 Michele J.Doughty, DHEd https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1524839912464773y
Draft Recommendation Statement - Breast Cancer Screening - May 9, 2023
DeLauro Statement on U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Breast Cancer Recommendations - May 9, 2023
https://delauro.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/delauro-statement-us-preventive-services-task-force-breast-cancer#:~:text=The%20Task%20Force%20recommends%20that,biennial%20screening%20by%20age%2050.
