Mammogram Debate

Article Summary
Brooke Gilliland

Mammogram Debate Took Group by Surprise
By GINA KOLATA
Published: November 20, 2009

This article discusses the federal Preventative Services Task Forces’ November 2009 recommendation that women need to get (and should get) mammograms less frequently than previously suggested. Further, the article describes how this recommendation instigated and uproar of opposition response. Several groups were described as being upset about the recommendation due to the perceived health consequences. However, other groups expressed anger that there were political overtones regarding the Obama administration’s recent healthcare reform gestures.

The history of the task force and the method of choosing its members were explained. Members of the task force expressed surprise at the negative responses to their recommendation. Other physicians, not in the task force, were incredulous as to the naiveté of the task force physicians. Those doctors could not believe that the task force members would not expect their recommendation to be met with indignation by the general public and cancer groups. The task force members believe that they are insulated from political and popular influences, but others find that hard to believe.

Personal note: possibly adding to the controversy of the agency’s mammogram recommendation was the fact that they simultaneously recommended against teaching breast self-examination (BSE). They graded BSE as a Grade D recommendation meaning “The USPSTF recommends against the service. There is moderate or high certainty that the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits.” Also from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) website http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/USpstf/uspsbrca.htm on December 4, 2009 the USPSTF “unanimously voted to update the language of their recommendation regarding women under 50 years of age to clarify their original and continued intent.”