Reminders key to more mammograms

ROCHESTER, Minn., March 27 (UPI) -- Computerized mail and phone reminder programs can greatly increase the percentage of patients getting mammograms, according to a U.S. study.

In the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, some 6,600 women 40 to 75 were divided into two groups: One got mammogram reminder mailings and, if necessary, a phone call to remind them to schedule a mammogram; and another control group did not receive reminders.

Study leader Rajeev Chaudhry of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found 64.3 percent of the women who had been reminded to get their yearly mammogram did get the procedure, compared to 55.3 percent in the control group, who got no reminders.

However, compliance with yearly mammograms with reminders has now grown to more than 72 percent, with 86 percent having had the procedure within the previous two years.

"National evidence-based guidelines say every woman over age 40 should have a yearly mammogram, but only about 65 percent of women nationally have had one in the last two years," Chaudhry said in a statement.