Results from a Mammography Audit and Patient Attitudes Study at the Princess Margaret Hospital

This paper reports the results from (1) a mammography audit from the Princess Margaret Hospital and 2) patient attitudes towards mammographs in the context of national risks of breast cancer. The audit allows for the quality of mammographic diagnoses to be assessed. Information on patient attitudes and follow-up to mammograms is required so that health care providers can better interact and educate patients. Between 2000 and 2002 about two percent of 4,322 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer. A family history, previous mastectomy, or patients having a complaint were found to elevate the risk of breast cancer. In the telephone study, the cancer detection rate was 18.8 per 1000. The positive predictive value of mammogram reports was 15.4%; the recall rate was 12.2%. The biopsy yield was 32.1%. The sensitivity and specificity of mammograms in 2001 were 100% and 89.5% respectively. The telephone study of 1,092 previous patients found that doctors were a major influence in getting patients to have a mammogram. Many women were ignorant about essential aspects of mammography and this probably resulted in many of them not returning for subsequent mammograms. Patients who should have had follow-up appeared not to have followed the doctor's recommendation. National data on breast cancer indicated that women in New Providence have a higher risk of breast cancer compared to women in other Bahamian islands.