Mammogram Statistic Update

Many US women still do not get recommended annual mammograms.
The CBS Evening News (12/9, story 6, 2:00, Couric) reported, "Annual mammograms have long been a key to early detection, but a study out shows only half of women 40 and older are actually getting them."
The Los Angeles Times (12/9, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Mammography guidelines are still not well followed, despite many years of public-health campaigns to bring the issue into prominence." New survey data has revealed that "only about half of eligible US women are getting annual mammograms -- even if they have insurance to pay for the exam." According to "a study presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers examined insurance claims from a database of 12 million people, all of whom had employer-provided insurance or Medicare. Fifty percent of eligible women had a mammogram in any given year, and only 60% had two or more mammograms over four years."
Bloomberg News (12/10, Wechsler, Cortez, et al.) reports, "The study, sponsored by Medco Health Solutions Inc., reviewed records for 1.56 million patients from January 2006 through December 2009." The article notes that "sixty-five percent of the study's 708,290 women ages 50 to 64 -- considered the 'must-do group' -- had a mammogram at least twice during the four-year period." But, "that still leaves 35 percent not getting mammograms even every other year."
The AP (12/10, Marchione) reports, "Many people disagreed when a government task force said that most women don't need annual mammograms. But new research shows that only half of women over 40 had been getting them that often to start with." A "review of insurance claims on more than 1.5 million women finds that among those 40 to 85 years old, only 50 percent were getting annual mammograms and only 60 percent had one every two years." HealthDay (12/9, Preidt) and WebMD (12/9, Laino) also covered the story.