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As many as 20% of women who receive chest radiation for childhood cancer will develop breast cancer by age 45. Annual mammography is recommended for these women beginning at age 25 or 8 years after chest radiation exposure, whichever comes earlier. To assess adherence to this recommendation, researchers identified 625 women (age range, 25–50) who had received moderate-to-high-dose chest radiation for childhood cancer (mostly Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms tumor, or neuroblastoma); 551 completed mail or telephone surveys.
Overall, roughly half of the participants had not undergone regular mammography screening (at least 2 mammograms in 4 years). Nearly half of the younger women (age range, 25–39) had never been screened, compared with 8% of the midd…