Respond to at least two of your fellow students discussion posts. T
Kate Empey (student’s name)
The disease screening I chose is breast cancer screening. The new recommendations for breast cancer screening is for every woman over 40 to be screened every other year. The basis of this upgraded recommendation is due to commonality of breast cancer and health disparities. Black women have a 40% higher chance of dying from breast cancer compared to white women. Other racial disparities are prevalent in other minority populations that historically have faced barriers of racism in quality healthcare access.
The grade of a B means that the task force still recommends breast cancer screening with assurance of moderate benefit. There are a variety of reasons why breast cancer screening did not receive an A. Most of the reasons fall back on not having enough research on the unknowns attributed to breast cancer screening. 50% of women have dense breast tissue and often undergo multiple additional screening measures without assurance of how much assurance they can gain from screenings. Women with dense breast tissue have a higher chance of getting breast cancer, therefore screenings need to improve to ensure higher quality results.
Breast cancer screening has long been a debated topic. As a female who has a close relative that became a breast cancer survivor before the age of 50, I have sought personal education on breast cancer screening. The use of radiation can increase rates of breast cancer, which is in part why screenings are not done more frequently than every other year. In addition, mammograms are not sensitive enough for women with dense breast tissue, but most insurances make all women receive a mammogram prior to further screening even if the doctors know that they will have to get an MRI anyways. There is a lot of research being conducted currently that hopefully more women will be able to be properly screened with an affordable price. I agree with the USPSTF that better research needs to be done for dense breast tissue and access to for all women, regardless of age, race, and location.
