Reducing racial disparities in time to breast cancer diagnosis: Impact of immediate screening mammogram reads during the COVID pandemic.

Authors

null

Janeiro Achibiri

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Janeiro Achibiri , Brian Nicholas Dontchos , Sarah Mercaldo , Anand Narayan , Randy C. Miles , Leslie Lamb , Gary X. Wang , Constance Dobbins Lehman

Organizations

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, Univ of Washington, Seattle, WA, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, MA

Research Funding

No funding received
None

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, barriers to access screening mammography along with goals to reduce visits supported immediate reading of screening mammograms. Typically, screening mammograms are reported after patients have left the facility. If imaging is abnormal, then an additional visit is needed for diagnostic imaging, introducing delays and potential disparities.Thus, we implemented an immediate-read screening mammography program and measured its impact on racial/ethnic disparities in time to diagnostic imaging after an abnormal screening mammogram. Methods: Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented an immediate read screening program in late May 2020. Patients were provided imaging results before discharge and if the exam was abnormal, efforts were made to perform diagnostic imaging during that visit. We identified consecutive screening mammograms performed weekdays 8:00am-4:30pm and Saturdays 9:00am-4:00pm pre-implementation (6/1/19-10/31/19) and post-implementation (6/1/2020-10/31/2020). Exams left unread while awaiting comparison studies, due to technical factors, or for more than 10 days were excluded. Patient demographics and time from screening exam completion to report finalized were obtained from the electronic medical record. Cancer detection rate (CDR), abnormal interpretation rate (AIR), and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to compare time from screening exam to report, same-day diagnostic imaging, and screening performance metrics pre- and post-implementation overall and by patient subgroups. Results: After 963 exams met exclusion criteria, a total of 8,222 pre- and 7,235 post-implementation exams were included. Median time to report finalization decreased from 61minutes (interquartile range [IQR]:24, 152) to 4 minutes (IQR:2, 7) for pre- and post-implementation periods (p < 0.001). During the pre-implementation period, non-white patients had lower odds of having same-day diagnostic imaging after an abnormal screening exam (age-adjusted odds ratio: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.10, 0.78 p = 0.015). There was no evidence of this disparity post-implementation. AIR was higher in the pre- versus post-implementation period (6.3% versus 5.0%; p < 0.001). There was no evidence of a difference in CDR (5.8 versus 4.2 cancers/1,000 exams) and PPV (9.2% versus 8.4%) for pre- versus post-implementation periods. Conclusions: An immediate read screening mammography program reduces racial/ethnic disparities in time to diagnostic imaging after an abnormal screening mammogram, thus promoting equity in access to care.


Pre- implementation
Post- implementation
Age-adjusted OR of a Same-Day Diagnostic Exam,  Non-White:White
0.28 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.78, p = 0.015)
0.87 (95% CI: 0.48, 1.56, p = 0.637)

Disclaimer

This material on this page is ©2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology, all rights reserved. Licensing available upon request. For more information, please contact licensing@asco.org

Abstract Details

Meeting

2021 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Oral Abstract Session

Session Title

Health Services Research and Quality Improvement

Track

Quality Care/Health Services Research

Sub Track

Access to Care

Citation

J Clin Oncol 39, 2021 (suppl 15; abstr 6508)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2021.39.15_suppl.6508

Abstract #

6508

Abstract Disclosures

Similar Abstracts

Abstract

2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

Breast cancer screening and diagnosis in a community health system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

First Author: Andrew Rudberg

Abstract

2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

Assessing breast cancer screening results through the lens of COVID-19 pandemic.

First Author: Dilyara Kaidarova

Abstract

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer screening rates.

First Author: Cliff Rutter

Abstract

2021 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

The impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer care: Delays in screening.

First Author: Amina Dhahri