10/09/08

Fight against breast cancer is October’s focus

by Beckye Randall, Editor

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). On the surface, this designation may seem to be on the “duh!” end of the spectrum. I mean, who among us is not aware of breast cancer?

Still, the national spotlight on this insidious disease is worthwhile. Since the program began in 1985, according to the NBCAM Web site, mammography rates have more than doubled for women age 50 and older, and breast cancer deaths have declined.

Those statistics sound positive, and progress is being made. But despite all the dollars going to promising research, the key to successfully defeating breast cancer ­is still early detection. And having a mammogram on a consistent basis remains the best method of finding the disease.

According to experts at NBCAM, there are still women who do not get screening mammograms and clinical breast exams at regular intervals. For instance:

• Women age 65 and older are less likely to get mammograms than younger women, even though breast cancer risk increases with age.
• Hispanic women have fewer mammograms than other ethnic groups.
• Women below poverty level are less likely to have had a mammogram within the past two years.
• Mammography use has increased for all groups ­except American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Many of us have probably seen an e-mail urging us to visit a site and “click” to donate a free mammogram. Unlike some Internet hoaxes, this one is actually true, according to ­
snopes.com, even if it’s not exactly as advertised.

Visitors to www.thebreastcancersite.org can generate one “click” per day, for which the Web site earns revenue from its advertisers. Of that revenue, the organization (which is not a nonprofit, by the way) donates 75 percent to a fund that delivers mammograms for low-income women. So, rather than one click for a free mammogram, it actually takes 45,000 clicks. The site, which sees traffic of about 58,000 visitors per day, therefore pays for about 1.3 mammograms daily.

There are probably more effective—and immediate—ways to help ensure all women are able to access an annual mammogram. For information about this and other issues, visit the NBCAM Web site at www.nbcam.org or the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org.