An influx of female military veterans is putting the squeeze on the breast screening program at one Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, according to a report published on September 18 in JAMA Surgery.
The Baltimore Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center screened more women with mammography after making changes to accommodate the growing number of female veterans; however, the changes led to increased times to treatment and more use of facilities outside the VA healthcare network for follow-up, according to Dr. Charlotte Kvasnovsky and colleagues.
Kvasnovsky's group examined all breast cancer cases treated at the center from January 2001 through May 2012. In 2008, program changes were implemented at the facility to expand screening mammography, develop onsite breast care resources, and better coordinate care with non-VA facilities (JAMA Surgery, September 18, 2013).
Between 2000 and 2013, 7,355 mammograms were performed at the medical center -- most after 2008, according to the researchers. Time from diagnosis to the start of treatment increased from 33 days to 51 days between 2008 and 2012, which Kvasnovsky's team attributed in part to increased clinical volume.
Women are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. veteran population, making breast cancer an increasingly significant public health issue for the Veterans Health Administration, the researchers noted. Although the Baltimore VA Medical Center successfully expanded its mammography service, the increased volume boosted the use of non-VA resources and time to treatment, they concluded.
"This was a single-center, retrospective study, [but] it is probable that our findings are applicable to other VA hospitals," Kvasnovsky's team wrote.
