Data collected by the federal government called SEER data, shows that the number of women in a given year that will be diagnosed with breast cancer goes from only 8 cases per 100,000 people, in women age 25-29 to 408 cases per 100,000 once women reach the ages of 65 to 69 and the incidence is even higher for women in the 70 to 79 year old age bracket. So to sum up the risk of breast cancer as we get older increases. However, increased age is associated with a decreased likelihood of receiving a mammogram. So its an important and worthwhile screening test for older women. The effectiveness of breast cancer treatment goes way up if a cancer is caught while it is still in the place it started.
Older women are good candidates for screening for breast cancer for a couple of reasons.
First, breast cancer seems to spread more slowly in the body in women who have undergone menopause. So mammography is even more likely to catch early stage disease in older women because the tumors don t grow as fast so its easier to catch them early. Second, the mammography test is more sensitive in older women. Unfortunately, even though older women have all of these advantages going for them with this type of screening they are the group who has been screened the least. This is because a number of barriers exist that tend to prevent older women from getting this procedure done.