For Screening Mammography, Is There a “Too Old”?

Clinicians and patients alike are uncertain whether mammography has an upper age limit beyond which screening is no longer appropriate; furthermore, relevant guidelines are inconsistent. To address this issue, investigators used a database linking national cancer registry and Medicare claims information to identify more than 12,000 women who were 80 or older at breast cancer diagnosis. Women were stratified according to use of screening mammography during the 5 years preceding diagnosis of breast cancer. Regular mammography was defined as three or more mammograms during the 5 years before diagnosis, irregular use as one to two mammograms, and nonuse as no mammograms.

The prevalence of regular mammography decreased with age from 27% of women …