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Category: Project

Description: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States. However, breast cancer burden is not evenly distributed in the population. An estimated 6-15% of women are at high (≥20% lifetime risk) risk for breast cancer based on personal health factors, family breast cancer history, or pathogenic genetic mutations (e.g., BRCA1/2). Compared to the general population, these women are nearly twice as likely to develop breast cancer. For high risk women, breast cancer screening guidelines include annual mammography and supplemental breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, only 1-7% of high risk women receive screening breast MRI. Thus, there is an urgent need to examine and address barriers to screening breast MRI among women with high breast cancer risk. The aims of this study are twofold: (1) assess factors influencing screening breast MRI utilization in a community-based sample of women at high risk for breast cancer (N=200); and (2) confirm, refine, or expand our conceptual model of screening breast MRI utilization through in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with a subset of Aim 1 patients (N=30).