Public confused on mammo guidelines

April 07, 2011
by Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor
A year and a half ago, the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force made headlines when it called for raising the age for routine mammography screenings. But the suggested reforms and the resulting media coverage have led to widespread public confusion, according to a new survey, with less than a quarter of women knowing what the new recommendations are for women aged 40 to 49.

The study also argues that the press was largely hostile to the new recommendations, possibly bowing to pressure from women's health groups or linking the changes with widespread worries in the run up to health reform that the Obama administration was "rationing" health care, according to some researchers.

The controversial 2009 guidelines suggested raising the age most women should begin routine mammography screenings from 40 to 50, and argued women should be screened once every two years, instead of annually, bringing U.S. guidelines more in line with Europe's. The task force also came down against self exams.

[Special Report: Recommendations Create New Battleground in the Fight Against Breast Cancer]

But a survey of 1,221 women published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found only 23 percent of women knew what the new guidelines were for women aged 40-49.

In the Web-based poll, younger women and those who had never had a mammogram or had one more than two years before the study were more likely to be confused. Only one-fifth of women aged 40-49 knew the new recommendations for their age group.

Overall, the recommendations confused more than they clarified, with 30 percent of the women puzzled by the new guidelines but only 6 percent saying they had gotten a better grasp on the issue, according to the authors, led by Linda B. Squiers, senior health communication analyst with RTI International in Bethesda, Md.

The study also showed that media coverage was largely negative. Of the 233 newspapers articles, blogs and tweets analyzed, 52 percent opposed the guidelines and only 18 percent supported them, researchers said.

The researchers recommended groups try out "message testing" to make sure guidelines are better understood.

"Using message testing in the future may help identify specific components or words (e.g., routine, against) within the recommendations that could cause providers, consumers, and advocacy agencies to be confused or concerned," they wrote.