Using mammograms to predict preventive health services behavior and mortality in women

This study examined whether mammography receipt was associated with mortality due to causes other than breast cancer, hypothesizing that mammography screening was a proxy for the predisposition to seek preventive health behaviors. Using data on 89,574 women from the 2000 National Health Interview Survey and National Death Index, a discrete-time hazard model estimated the mortality from any cause except breast cancer as a function of screening status. Receiving a mammogram was associated with a 24% reduction in the likelihood of death all causes except breast cancer. These odds were reduced to 21.1% when demographic and socioeconomic variables are added and reduced further to 20.9% when health resource variables were added. The final adjusted model shows that women who received a mammogram had reduced their probability of death by 20%. These results suggest women who undergo mammograms may be more likely to seek other preventive health services or engage in healthy behaviors that affect mortality. While the use of mammograms to predict breast cancer mortality merits further consideration, if a proxy for a woman's predisposition for additional preventive screenings, encouraging mammography may be a pivotal pathway for preventing mortality due to other causes for women.