Women With Schizophrenia Less Likely to Undergo Breast Cancer Screening

Women with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders were about half as likely as the general population to undergo a mammogram for breast cancer screening, according to a study published in Psychiatric Services.

Researchers conducted a systematic literature review of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for studies published through September 14, 2018. The search terms included breast cancer, mammography, schizophrenia, and psychosis.

A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria and comprised 25,447 women from four Western countries with schizophrenia or psychosis. Seven studies were deemed high quality, three were medium quality, and one was low quality.

Mental health impacts breast cancer screening behavior

Women with schizophrenia were less likely than women without schizophrenia to receive mammography screening (pooled odds ratio = 0.50; 95% CI, 0.38-0.64; P<0.001). In a subgroup analysis, this association was not significantly affected by quality of the study.