Subscribe to our newsletter. In Older Women by Margaret Chiffriller Diagnosed More But Treated Less Join the Discussion Women 40 and older are regularly advised to get a mammogram, the low dose X ray that detects most breast cancers. But it's becoming harder to get one.
Breast cancer ranks second after lung cancer as a cause of cancer deaths among women.
According to estimates, there will be 192,200 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in 2001. Two thirds of the women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States are postmenopausal and over 55. Seventy seven per cent of the 40,200 women who are expected to succumb to breast cancer in 2001, will be over 55. According to a report published in a recent issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association , this population may not have the same access to prognostic information or treatment as younger women with breast cancer. Younger patients who develop breast cancer are often healthier in other respects.