RICHMOND, Va., July 1 (UPI) -- Seventy-six percent of U.S. women over the age of 40 said in 2002 they had had a mammogram in the past two years, according to a national survey.
More than 93,000 women aged 40 and older took part in the 2002 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey.
The survey found 70 percent of women in their 40s got a mammogram to screen for breast cancer, while 81 percent of women in their 50s got mammograms. Eighty-one percent of women in their 60s were tested and 76 percent of women over 70 were tested.
The figures exceed the 70 percent goal set by federal government officials for 2010, reported WebMD.
Kirsten Barrett of the Center for Public Policy, Survey and Evaluation Research Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University, reported the statistics in the American Journal of Health Behavior.
More than 211,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, according to the American Cancer Society.
