Latinas May Suffer Under New Mammography Rules

Latinas — who are already less likely to receive treatment for breast cancer — may suffer even more under new mammography guidelines released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. A report notes that minority women were found to need more regular screenings than their white counterparts in order to prevent deaths from breast cancer:

A retrospective study derived from a large state cancer registry found that Hispanic, Asian, and black women aged 40-49 years were up to 60% more likely to be diagnosed with ductal cancer in situ (DCIS) and up to 80% more like to have small invasive breast tumors (T1N0) than were their white counterparts.

These women were significantly more likely to have tumors that respond best to very early therapy, Dr. Sharon Lum said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. But if their cancers are not detected through mammography, women in these groups might not receive such therapy.

“We already know that breast cancer occurs at a younger age in minorities, and that minority women present with later-stage breast tumors and they have poorer survival, “said Dr. Lum of Loma Linda (Calif.) University. “Yet under the new guidelines, the diagnosis of patients such as these would be delayed until they developed larger tumors evident though manual breast exams. Now, through our study, we know that minority women fall into these categories in a higher percentage” than do white women.

The report goes on to say that these particular doctors favored more screenings for young minority women. This is especially troubling, given that as we’ve reported before, doctors are less likely to refer Latinas for life-saving cancer treatments than they are white women. Which is to say, if Latinas are not being screened properly, then they are not referred for treatments that could save their lives, they may be more likely to die of a preventable disease than their white counterparts.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD