The Virginia Cancer Registry recently released its 2018 Cancer in Virginia Annual Report. We read it, and here are some important takeaways for breast cancer in Virginia.
We have stats on male breast cancer in Virginia! 59% of male breast cancer diagnoses are made when the cancer is still at the localized, most treatable stage. This means men are paying attention to their chest and taking any changes they notice seriously. Men don’t get annual mammograms, so having the majority of breast cancers still being made in the earlier stages is good news.
75.9% of women 40+ reported having their mammogram in the previous 2 years, over 3 points higher than the national average. Yeah, Virginia!
However, there’s a pretty big gap in the mammogram rates between women who did not complete high school (66.2%) and college graduates (81.5%) and women who make less than $15,000 (63.1%) and those who make over $50,000 (79.9%). Good news: This data is from 2011-2015, so it doesn’t take into account the recent expansion of Medicaid eligibility, which could help to narrow these gaps.
From 2006-2015, the incidence of and mortality from breast cancer didn’t really change in Virginia.
In Virginia, African American women have a higher incidence of breast cancer and mortality rate than White women. The good news: A recent study has come out showing that in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility, the treatment gap that existed between Black and White women virtually disappeared. Hopefully increased access to medical coverage will have similar results in Virginia!
