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Breast Cancer Screening and BI-RADS Scoring Trends Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Academic Safety-Net Hospital

  • Breast Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Little is known about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected screening mammography rates and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (BI-RADS) categorizations within populations facing social and economic inequities. Our study seeks to compare trends in breast cancer screening and BI-RADS assessments in an academic safety-net patient population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients and Methods

Our single-center retrospective study evaluated women ≥ 18 years old with no known breast cancer diagnosis who received breast cancer screening from March 2019–September 2020. The screening BI-RADS score, completion of recommended diagnostic imaging, and diagnostic BI-RADS scores were compared between the pre-COVID-19 era (from 1 March 2019 to 19 March 2020) and COVID-19 era (from 20 March 2020 to 30 September 2020).

Results

Among the 11,798 patients identified, screened patients were younger (median age 57 versus 59 years, p < 0.001) and more likely covered by private insurance (35.9% versus 32.3%, p < 0.001) during the COVID-19 era compared with the pre-COVID-19 era. During the pandemic, there was an increase in screening mammograms categorized as BI-RADS 0 compared with the pre-COVID-19 era (20% versus 14.5%, p < 0.0001). There was no statistically significant difference in rates of completion of diagnostic imaging (81.6% versus 85.4%, p = 0.764) or assignment of suspicious BI-RADS scores (BI-RADS 4–5; 79.9% versus 80.8%, p = 0.762) between the two eras.

Conclusions

Although more patients were recommended to undergo diagnostic imaging during the pandemic, there were no significant differences in race, completion of diagnostic imaging, or proportions of mammograms categorized as suspicious between the two time periods. These findings likely reflect efforts to maintain equitable care among diverse racial groups served by our safety-net hospital.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Anna Kobzeva-Herzog MD, Thomas O’Shea MD, Sara Young MD, Kelly Kenzik PhD, Xuewei Zhao MPH, Andrea Merrill MD & Michael R. Cassidy MD

  2. Department of Radiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Priscilla Slanetz MD, MPH & Jordana Phillips MD

Authors
  1. Anna Kobzeva-Herzog MD
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  2. Thomas O’Shea MD
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  3. Sara Young MD
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  4. Kelly Kenzik PhD
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Correspondence to Michael R. Cassidy MD.

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Kobzeva-Herzog, A., O’Shea, T., Young, S. et al. Breast Cancer Screening and BI-RADS Scoring Trends Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Academic Safety-Net Hospital. Ann Surg Oncol 31, 2253–2260 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-14787-4

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