Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov;202(2):335-343.
doi: 10.1007/s10549-023-07083-y. Epub 2023 Aug 25.

Impact of age, race, and family history on COVID-19-related changes in breast cancer screening among the Boston mammography cohort study

Naiyu Chen  1 , David Cheng  2 , Michelle O Sodipo  1 , Mollie E Barnard  3   4 , Natalie C DuPre  5 , Rulla M Tamimi  6 , Erica T Warner  7
Affiliations

Impact of age, race, and family history on COVID-19-related changes in breast cancer screening among the Boston mammography cohort study

Naiyu Chen et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Purpose: We studied women enrolled in the Boston Mammography Cohort Study to investigate whether subgroups defined by age, race, or family history of breast cancer experienced differences in the incidence of screening or diagnostic imaging rates during the COVID-19 lockdown and had slower rebound in the incidence of these rates during reopening.

Methods: We compared the incidence of monthly breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging rates over during the pre-COVID-19 (January 2019-February 2020), lockdown (March-May 2020), and reopening periods (June-December 2020), and tested for differences in the monthly incidence within the same period by age (< 50 vs ≥ 50), race (White vs non-White), and first-degree family history of breast cancer (yes vs no).

Results: Overall, we observed a decline in breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging rates over the three time periods (pre-COVID-19, lockdown, and reopening). The monthly incidence of breast cancer screening rates for women age ≥ 50 was 5% higher (p = 0.005) in the pre-COVID-19 period (January 2019-February 2020) but was 19% lower in the reopening phase (June-December 2020) than that of women aged < 50 (p < 0.001). White participants had 36% higher monthly incidence of breast cancer diagnostic imaging rates than non-White participants (p = 0.018).

Conclusion: The rebound in screening was lower in women age ≥ 50 and lower in non-White women for diagnostic imaging. Careful attention must be paid as the COVID-19 recovery continues to ensure equitable resumption of care.

Keywords: Breast cancer; COVID-19; Diagnostic imaging; Epidemiology; Screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests

Mollie E. Barnard reports personal fees from Epi Excellence LLC outside of the submitted work. All other authors have no relevant financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging rates (2019–2020)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Breast cancer screening rates between 2019–2020 by: (a) age, (b) race, (c) family history; breast cancer diagnostic imaging rates between 2019–2020 by (d) age, (e) race, (f) family history
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. A Timeline of COVID-19 Developments in 2020. AJMC. Accessed April 25, 2022. https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020
    1. Moreland A, Herlihy C, Tynan MA, et al. Timing of State and Territorial COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders and Changes in Population Movement — United States, March 1–May 31, 2020. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(35):1198–1203. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6935a2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vanni G, Pellicciaro M, Materazzo M, et al. Lockdown of Breast Cancer Screening for COVID-19: Possible Scenario. In Vivo. 2020;34(5):3047–3053. doi:10.21873/invivo.12139 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Freer PE. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Imaging. Radiol Clin North Am. 2021;59(1):1–11. doi:10.1016/j.rcl.2020.09.008 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Naidich JJ, Boltyenkov A, Wang JJ, Chusid J, Hughes D, Sanelli PC. Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Imaging Case Volumes. J Am Coll Radiol. 2020;17(7):865–872. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2020.05.004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources