Lewis Jordan discusses breast cancer screening disparities with The Badger Herald
In an article highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness month, Lewis Jordan, MD, MPH, MS discussed his recent research on neighborhood resources and access to breast cancer screenings with The Badger Herald, one of the student-run newspapers covering UW–Madison.
Dr. Jordan and co-authors, including Mai Elezaby, MD, and Anand Narayan, MD, PhD, found that women living in underserved areas, Black women, and women who prefer languages other than English are significantly less likely to get screened for breast cancer.
“Screening mammography — that’s our gold standard for average risk patients detecting cancer,” Dr. Jordan said in the article, “Breast Cancer Awareness Month: How UW–Madison experts, students are raising awareness for breast cancer.” “If we can get (patients) in on an annual basis, the data shows that outcomes will be better.”
Barriers to screening include a lack of neighborhood resources, transportation, education, communication, and how welcome patients feel in a clinic. Dr. Jordan highlights strategies to improve screening utilization, including improving patient education and awareness.
Learn more in Dr. Jordan’s interview with The Badger Herald. Read the research article “Neighborhood Deprivation and Screening Mammography Utilization: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study” in “Academic Radiology.”