Experts are shocked by the magnitude of online misinformation about mammogram safety in Sask.

Saskatchewan women aged 43 and older can now sign up for mammogram screening without a doctor’s referral. phased approach Reducing the eligibility age to 40 years by June.

As soon as the province announced the reduction in age eligibility in the first week of January, articles and posts about it proliferated on social media, but the vast majority of comments were filled with misinformation about the safety of mammograms.

The response stunned advocates and physicians who had been pushing for years to lower the eligibility age to 40.

“I was amazed and I immediately, you know, copied the link to the Facebook post and shared it with some of our advocates and some of our physicians, to show them because we’ve never seen anything like this – this magnitude of misinformation,” said Jenny Dale, founder and president of Dense Breasts Canada.

Dell said in a post on Facebook that a screenshot of an article about lowering the age to 43 was shared, which had more than 400 comments. He said most of them had wrong information about mammograms.

“And I thought, Oh my God, it’s going to take hours if not days to make a dedicated effort to dispel this information. It was overwhelming. There was all this different types of misinformation in one place,” Dale said.

This misinformation includes claims that mammograms expose women to high levels of radiation, that mammograms are more painful than experts believe, and that “false negative” and “false positive” results are higher, causing excessive anxiety and stress in women.

Radiation concerns

Dr. Paula Gordon, a clinical professor and practicing breast radiologist at the University of British Columbia, said it’s important to let women know that these claims are either false, or misleading. She stressed that online misinformation can prevent women from taking advantage of the decline in age due to fear.

“After age 40, the radiation in a mammogram is negligible in terms of risk. People need to know that we are surrounded by radiation every day, we get radiation from the air, water and land,” Gordon said.

He said that the radiation dose in mammogram is very low. For example, if a woman lives at sea level, the exposure from a mammogram is equivalent to the radiation someone would receive from living there for just seven weeks.

The radiation is higher if you live at higher altitudes, Gordon said. At high altitude, the radiation exposure from a mammogram is only equivalent to living in that environment for three weeks.

Lisa Wick, a breast cancer survivor and patient advocate, said that before she found a lump on her breast, she was worried about exposing herself to more radiation through a mammogram. But that changed.

“I thought I was a healthy 48-year-old woman. I wouldn’t need a mammogram yet because I don’t have any family history. I was, you know, taking care of myself. And I’m like, why would I expose myself to extra radiation?” She didn’t know how low the risk really was, Vick said.

“And I thought there was no need for it. I’d just wait, hang out. Plus, I thought it was something women over 50 did.”

But when she looks back now, two years later, Vick said she wishes she had had the opportunity to be screened sooner.

“I would have learned about my breast density and the risks associated with having dense tissue,” Wick said.

If the breast tissue is dense a standard mammogram screening often cannot detect cancer because it appears white, just like the cancer. If this is the case, a follow-up ultrasound is needed.

Dale said the practice of mammogram screening for women under 50 is low in many parts of Canada.

“And so we’re certainly concerned that women are hearing that mammograms can cause harm and that it’s painful and that there’s going to be radiation exposure and all kinds of misinformation is spreading,” he said.

Dale said it’s enough that women face mammogram screening with some trepidation because it’s a test that some people may find they may have cancer. In the beginning there is a lot of anxiety about the exam. But when women also see misinformation online, it creates confusion.

Mixed results with wait times

In a statement to CBC, the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA) said Its Screening Programme, BreastCheckWhich is provided through a partnership with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), has completed just under 1,000 mammogram appointments with clients aged 50 and younger through January 2025.

Dense Breasts Canada said it cannot estimate the extent of the low number of mammograms in Saskatchewan at this time. Still, she reiterated that the number of women under 50 has remained consistently low across Canada.

The SCA said screening mammograms do not require any kind of signup process. Instead, eligible women with a current Saskatchewan health card can call BreastCheck to schedule a screening mammogram at any location convenient for them.

“As far as screening mammogram wait times, most of our screening sites are booking out within four weeks, with the exception of our Regina screening site, where appointments are available within four months,” the SCA said.

Women can book at any screening site across the province, including mobile mammography units.

However, Wick – who is the founder and organizer of WeStrong, a group that aims to provide support to women in the Weyburn community who have been diagnosed with cancer – said women of all ages report that their waiting lists are long or inconsistent.

“One woman says, ‘I got an appointment in two weeks’ and then the next woman says, ‘Well, I’m waiting for my annual, and it’ll take 18 months before I get an appointment.'”

Vick wants the provincial government to be transparent and communicate with the public about why this might be happening. She said the women want regular updates on how the province’s efforts to recruit and retain health-care workers such as radiologists are progressing.

“Where are we in this? Because it’s impacting women. It’s definitely a wait time. How can a woman come in two weeks who automatically calls and gets an appointment, and then the next woman who’s waiting for her annual screening after cancer has been waiting 18 months?” He said.

“Where are we going wrong there?”

Misleading claims about ‘false positive’ results

Gordon said the term “false positives” is misleading. She prefers the term “false alarm”.

False alarms may include a “blob” of normal breast tissue, a cyst, or a noncancerous lump called a fibroadenoma.

Gordon said that out of every 1,000 women who get a screening mammogram, 70 — or 7 percent — will be called back for additional tests. According to medical data, only 11 of those 70 will be given a needle biopsy. Of those 11 women, four would be diagnosed with cancer.

“And of those four women, we found it early. It’s life-changing. We probably could have saved them from major surgery. We could have saved them (from chemotherapy). And that’s why we’re so excited about checking for these things on screening mammograms,” Gordon said.

A common piece of misinformation is that people claim they are “over-diagnosed.” Gordon said this is actually When an actual cancer is present, but the patient dies quickly from something else, while the cancer could have killed the woman.

“For example, a woman gets treated for her breast cancer. Six months later, that poor unlucky woman is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and she dies within a year,” Gordon said, adding that health care professionals may not know what other health problems may occur after the screening.

“After six months, she may have a fatal heart attack. These chances are higher in older women. These chances are negligible in younger women.”

Advocates call on province to address misinformation

The SCA told CBC it has launched an online campaign, including myth-busting campaigns that debunk common misinformation about mammograms.

“We work with the Saskatchewan Health Authority to spread our social media message as much as possible.”

The SCA said it also shares articles, including the latest breast health information, with the SHA and Saskatchewan Medical Association for communication and distribution with family doctors and other health care providers.

Still, Danes Breasts Canada, advocates and leading breast cancer experts would like to see a more direct approach to discrediting misinformation about mammogram safety – namely including it in letters and information sent to women, reminding them to book colorectal and Pap test screenings.

“We need to start matching women at age 43. Did you know you’re eligible? Don’t listen to these myths you may have seen on social media. And here are the statistics. Here’s what can happen when we detect it early. And what happens if we find something,” Vick said.

“I don’t think it needs to be scary,” Vick said.