Ultrasound and breast cancer detection rates have increased thanks to new laws

New Haven, Connecticut – According to researchers at the Yale School of Public Health and Medicine, bad density reporting laws that require mammography reporting can speed up screenings and increase cancer detection rates. Their study was published American Journal of Public Health.

In the United States, about half of women aged 40 to 50 years have dense bad tissue, which increases their risk of bad cancer and makes it more difficult to detect cancer by mammography. In response to these concerns, many states now require health care providers to inform women of bad density after mammography. However, in recent years, some states have gone further, forcing these notifications to also include recommendations that women with higher bad densities should consider additional screening tests, such as ultrasound and MRI.

To determine whether these different types of national laws affect screening patterns, researchers badyzed data from over one million mammograms provided to privately insured women aged 40 to 50 years. Women lived in States without law of notification, a law that only contained information on their bad density or a law that also recommended additional tests. The research team examined whether the type of law made a difference in clinical practice – in particular, the rates of bad ultrasound and cancer detection.

The research team found that women living in states with laws that recommended additional screening tests had higher rates of bad ultrasound and post-application cancer detection. In contrast, the researchers found no change in clinical practice related to notifications that contained only information on bad density.

This finding suggests a limited clinical impact of bad density legislation, except in cases where the Notification Act specifically recommends additional testing. "Our study suggests that if one of the goals of dense bad reporting laws is to change clinical practice, the wording of the legislation is important," said Susan Busch, a public health professor and corresponding author. "Including specific information about additional tests is more effective than vague recommendations suggesting talking to your doctor."

Increases in ultrasound and ultrasound cancer detection rates in states with laws recommending additional screening were low: an estimated 10.5 additional ultrasound scans per 1,000 mammograms and fewer bad cancers detected for 1 000 mammograms. "Notably, although we find increases, this consumption is low for an insured population with diets that cover bad ultrasound," Busch noted.

Cary Gross, a professor of medicine and a member of the Yale Cancer Center, said, "It is important to note that the discovery of additional cancers does not necessarily represent a benefit to the patient, and sometimes screening can simply detect more cancers than The primary goal of a screening program is to reduce advanced cancer rates and reduce mortality, and we need to continue studies to determine if these screening strategies are appropriate. more aggressive really have a positive impact. "

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The other authors of the study at Yale are Jessica Hoag, Xiao Xu, Jenerius Aminawung, Ilana Richman and Pamela Soulos. Co-author Kelly Kyanko is at NYU Langone Health.

Yale researchers gained access to anonymized data through Yale University's participation in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Alliance for Health Research, created to engage leading US researchers in the field of health research. health in search of critical explorations. Yale researchers received no funding from BCBSA to conduct this research, funded by a grant from the American Cancer Society. The affiliations and information of the authors are detailed in the document published in the American Journal of Public Health.

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