Why get a Mammogram

If you’re like most women, you put off getting your annual mammogram due to a busy schedule and life. It’s no surprise; most women barely have time these days to eat breakfast. However, it’s important to make time to take care of you – or else who will care for everyone else?

Because the reality is that breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women, affecting one out of eight women.¹

That’s why getting a mammogram is so important. In fact, the introduction of screening mammograms is one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, credited with saving millions of lives.

For instance, did you know that women who have regular mammograms are nearly 60 percent less likely to die of breast cancer than those who don’t?^2-5 In fact, without screening, the incidence of late-stage breast cancer in the US would be nearly a third higher.⁶

Despite all this, nearly half of all women, including a third of those 40 and older, skip their regular mammograms.^7,8

Don’t be one of those women who is simply too busy. It only takes a few minutes to schedule an appointment, and the entire process from start to finish takes less than half an hour.

So take some time for you and make the appointment. You’ll be glad you did.

References

1. World Health Organization. Breast Cancer. 2018; https://www.who.int/cancer/prevention/diagnosis-screening/breast-cancer/en/. Accessed February 28, 2019.
2. Paap E, Verbeek AL, Botterweck AA, et al. Breast cancer screening halves the risk of breast cancer death: a case-referent study. Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland). 2014;23(4):439-444.
3. van Schoor G, Moss SM, Otten JDM, et al. Effective biennial mammographic screening in women aged 40–49. Eur J Cancer. 2010;46(18):3137-3140.
4. Weedon-Fekjaer H, Romundstad PR, Vatten LJ. Modern mammography screening and breast cancer mortality: population study. BMJ. 2014;348:g3701.
5. Tabar L, Dean PB, Chen TH, et al. The incidence of fatal breast cancer measures the increased effectiveness of therapy in women participating in mammography screening. Cancer. 2019;125(4):515-523.
6. Gangnon RE, Sprague BL, Stout NK, et al. The contribution of mammography screening to breast cancer incidence trends in the United States: an updated age-period-cohort model. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2015;24(6):905-912.
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Percent of women aged 40 and over who had a mammogram within the past 2 years. 2015 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2017/070.pdf.
8. Whelehan P, Evans A, Wells M, Macgillivray S. The effect of mammography pain on repeat participation in breast cancer screening: a systematic review. Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland). 2013;22(4):389-394.