Cincinnati Enquirer: Pandemic leads women to delay mammograms

Though more women are getting back on their mammogram schedules through the pandemic, alarmed cancer experts say Ohio and the nation now are caught in an unprecedented experiment with dangerous consequences.

Preventive medicine was quickly halted as a result of the pandemic, and health systems now report startling decreases in mammography. UC Health reports mammography remains down 43% as of early October even though nonessential services, including cancer screening, resumed May 1 across Ohio.

“People have to balance the risks of coming out of their homes,” says a "worried" Mary Mahoney, MD, Benjamin Felson Endowed Chair and professor of UC's Department of Radiology and chief of imaging at UC Health. “But for those people who are resuming normal activities, going to work, going to restaurants, going to social events: Where does taking responsibility for your own personal health fall into this?”

Read the full Cincinnati Enquirer story.

Featured image of breast cancer cells courtesy of the National Cancer Institute.