Screening mammography for women 50 years of age and older: practices and trends, 1987

Recently, public and private efforts have been mounted to promote screening mammography. To assess recent trends in the percentage of women 50 years of age and older who have had a screening mammogram, we analyzed data from interviews from women from 33 states who participated in the 1987 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Our study group included 8,402 women 50 years of age and older who had visited a physician for a routine checkup in the last year; among these 8,402 women, only 29% reported having had a screening mammogram in the past year. However, of the women in the study group, the percentage who had a screening mammogram in the last year showed a relative increase of 38% during 1987, from 24% for women interviewed in the first quarter of 1987 to 33% for women interviewed in the fourth quarter. However, not all groups of patients benefited equally from the observed trend--the absolute and relative increases in the percentage of women screened were lowest for women who were older, less educated, in low-income groups, and who had poor personal health practices. Although the percentage of women 50 years of age and older who reported being screened increased dramatically during 1987, special efforts are needed to reach the patient groups that are being left behind in the trend toward increased use of screening mammograms.