Do mammography recalls keep women from other screening tests?

Sunday, November 26 | 11:35 a.m.-11:45 a.m. | SSA01-06 | Arie Crown Theater

False positives on mammography do not deter women from undergoing other preventive tests, such as cervical cancer or osteoporosis screening, according to research conducted at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Women with false-positive results on screening mammograms were no less likely to undergo a subsequent Pap smear and bone mass testing than those with true-negative screening results, Dr. Stella Kang and colleagues found.

The researchers included Medicare data from 2010 through 2014 for 555,708 women. Of these, 67% did not undergo screening mammography and 31% did. They adjusted the data for patient demographics, comorbidity status, geographic factors, and baseline preventive care.

The group found that women who underwent baseline screening mammograms were more likely than unscreened women to have a subsequent Pap smear, bone mass assessment, and influenza vaccine, regardless of whether their mammography results were false-positive or false-negative.

The finding is good news, according to Kang and colleagues.

"In female Medicare beneficiaries, screening mammography utilization is associated with a higher likelihood of adherence to other preventive guidelines, and without a negative association between false-positive results and near-term cervical cancer or osteoporosis screening," they concluded.