Women With Diabetes Skip Mammography

Women with diabetes tend to miss screening mammograms even when cost isn'ta factor, according to a report in the October 10 issue of Archives ofInternal Medicine. Mammography is particularly important to women withdiabetes, as they may have greater risk of breast cancer. As it is, breastcancer is the most common type of cancer in women and the second leading causeof cancer deaths.

A group of researchers did a retrospective study of health records of women50–67 years of age living in the province of Ontario. Under thenationalized Canadian health system, screening mammography is provided at nocost to patients. Researchers compared mammography rates of 69,168 women whohad diabetes for at least 2 years and 663,519 women without diabetes.Mammography rates were compared over a 2-year period.

Women with diabetes tended to be older, have more doctor visits, and bepoorer. Those >65 years old were less likely to be taking hormonereplacement therapy. Women with diabetes were 32% less likely than the otherwomen to have had a screening mammogram during the 2-year study period,according to researchers.

The results suggest that the complex management of chronic disease may leadphysicians to overlook preventive care such as breast cancer screening, theauthors conclude.

.