Timing of follow-up after abnormal Screening and Diagnostic

Objective—To evaluate woman-level characteristics associated with timing of follow-up after abnormal mammograms in an integrated healthcare system with an active breast health program. Study Design—Retrospective cohort study. Methods—The study included women aged 40-84 years who had an abnormal mammogram (20,060 screening and 3184 diagnostic) recommended for follow-up. We compared characteristics of women who received any follow-up evaluation within ≤7, 8 to 14, 15 to 21, and 22 to 180 days. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) using multivariate ordinal logistic regression. Results—The proportion of women seeking care within 7 days was 23 % for screening and 69% for diagnostic mammograms. Characteristics associated with later follow-up (≥8 days vs ≤7 days) after an abnormal screening mammogram included being older (OR = 1.15; 95 % CI, 1.04-1.26 [age 70-79 years]; OR = 1.31; 95 % CI, 1.14-1.51 [age 80+ years]), Asian (OR = 1.18; 95 % CI, 1.04-1.33), or having a college degree (OR = 1.10; 95 % CI, 1.01-1.19). Characteristics associated with earlier follow-up included family history of breast cancer (OR = 0.93; 95 % CI, 0.88-0.98)