Women with cancer in just one breast are more likely to undergo a double mastectomy if they live in the Midwest, according to new research published in JAMA Surgery.
Not only does the incidence of contralateral mastectomies vary by geography, it also has increased significantly over the past 10 years, according to the report. Among the more than 1.2 million women with early-stage breast cancer included in the study, the rate of double mastectomies increased significantly from 2004 to 2012. For women over age 45, the rate increased from 3.6 percent to 10.4 percent, and for women between ages 20 and 44, the rate increased from 10.5 percent to 33.3 percent.
Increases were more significant depending on geography. For example, rates of contralateral mastectomies among women ages 20 to 44 from 2010 to 2012 were over 42 percent in Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa and South Dakota — the highest in the study.
While many women likely see this procedure as a preventive measure, there is no evidence of survival benefit, according to the study's authors. In fact, the American Society of Breast Surgeons last year began discouraging women with cancer in one breast from undergoing a double mastectomy unless they had a genetic predisposition to the disease, according to coverage of the study from Reuters.
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