Image
A debate persists over screening frequency for breast cancer the second leading cause of cancer death for women after lung cancer.Credit.Njeri Mwangi/Reuters
To the Editor:
We take issue with an editorial in JAMA Internal Medicine that said frequent screening of younger women for breast cancer can do “more harm than good.” As physicians who diagnose and treat breast cancer at Weill Cornell Medicine, we seek to minimize the impact of this disease, which continues to kill about 44,000 American women a year.
We are especially concerned about the effect of such misinformation on the health of African-American women, who are more likely to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer at younger ages and are more likely to die from breast cancer at all ages.