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SPOKANE, Wash.-- Breast cancer screening took a sizeable hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests new research that showed that the number of screening mammograms completed in a large group of women living in Washington State plummeted by nearly half. Published today in
JAMA Network Open, the study found the steepest drop-offs among women of color and those living in rural communities.
"Detecting breast cancer at an early stage dramatically increases the chances that treatment will be successful," said lead study author Ofer Amram, an assistant professor in the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine whose research focuses on health inequities. "Our study findings suggest that health care providers need to double down on efforts to maintain prevention services and reach out to these underserved populations, who faced considerable health disparities even before the pandemic."