October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Recent studies in the Journal of Advanced Nursing and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities showed that women with intellectual disabilities possessed limited knowledge of breast cancer, including risks, symptoms and preventative factors. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to examine the NCI data on mammograms and raise awareness of breast cancer and diagnostic testing within the ID/DD community.
According to the 2010-2011 Adult Consumer Survey data, 79% of female respondents over the age of 40 had had a mammogram in the past two years. Statehealthfacts.org (of the Kaiser Family Foundation) shows that in 2010, 75.4% of women over age 40 in the country had received a mammogram in the past two years. The data seem to show that the NCI respondents, on average, receive mammograms at a higher rate than the non ID/DD population. However, the data on mammograms become even more compelling when examined by residence type.
According to the 2010-2011 NCI data, 95% of female respondents over age 40 and living in institutional settings received mammograms within the past two years. Comparatively, 87% of those living in a community-based setting, and 82% of those living in individual homes reported having received a mammogram in the past two years. However, a mere 59% of respondents living in a parent’s home reported having received a mammogram in the past 2 years. These data may indicate that individuals living in a parents’ home, and parents housing a person with DD/ID need to be targeted in breast cancer awareness-building endeavors.
Women with ID/DD are as likely to get breast cancer as women in the general population but are less likely to obtain mammograms. It is critical that women with ID/DD and their families/caretakers are made aware of the risk of Breast Cancer, and how to detect it.
For more data on mammogram usage in the ID/DD population and other indicators, see the ‘Reports” page at http://www.nationalcoreindicators.org/resources/. And, as always, we would love to see what you are doing with NCI data. Let us know by sending an email to dhiersteiner@hsri.org.
Sources:
Parish, S., Swaine, J., Luken, K, Rose, R., Dababnah, S. (2012) Cervical and breast cancer-screening knowledge of women with developmental disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. 50(2):79-91.
Truesdale-Kennedy, M., Taggart, L., & Mcilfatrick, S. (2011) Breast cancer knowledge among women with intellectual disabilities and their experiences of receiving breast mammography. Journal of Advanced Nursing 67(6), 1294–1304.
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsMammograms/