October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout the month, Fagen Pharmacy will be providing regular reminders to our friends on Facebook encouraging them to share awareness about breast cancer with their family, friends and co-workers.
Breast Cancer Awareness
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) educates women about the importance of early detection for breast cancer. Since NBCAM’s inception, mammography use has doubled, and breast cancer death rates have declined. Still, many women do not utilize mammography at regular intervals. In recognition of the fact that mammography is the best available method of detecting breast changes that may be cancer, long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt, and that breast cancer deaths could decline further if all women age 40 and older received mammograms at regular intervals. Fagen Pharmacy urges all women and their families to get the facts about mammography.
Saving Lives with Mammography
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Since the program began in 1985, mammography rates have more than doubled for women age 50 and older and breast cancer deaths have declined.
This is exciting progress, but there are still women who do not take advantage of early detection at all and others who do not get screening mammograms and clinical breast exams at regular intervals.
- Women age 65 and older are less likely to get mammograms than younger women, even though breast cancer risk increases with age.
- Hispanic women have fewer mammograms than Caucasian women and African American women.
- Women below poverty level are less likely than women at higher incomes to have had a mammogram within the past two years.
- Mammography use has increased for all groups except American Indians and Alaska Natives.
If all women age 40 and older took advantage of early detection methods – mammography plus clinical breast exam – breast cancer death rates would drop much further, up to 30 percent. The key to mammography screening is that it be done routinely – once is not enough.
