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Breast cancer screening guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Geriatrics Society note that the potential harms of mammography screening can outweigh the benefits in women with limited life expectancies. Researchers evaluated rates of screening mammography among 2131 women (median age, 77; 93% white) in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) who were 70 or older to determine whether cognitive impairment (which is associated with substantially shortened life expectancy) affected likelihood of undergoing mammography. Cognitive status was determined by participants' responses to a 35-point HRS instrument or by proxy informants' reports.
Overall, 55% of th…