http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/health_alert_study_shows_reminder_system_saves_livesAs recently reported, more African-American women are dying at a lower breast cancer rate than White women. Today, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine is releasing a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center of Health Research about a reminder program that involves automated phone messages, mailings, and personal calls, has already boosted mammography by 17 percent. The study's authors believe that if the country’s mammography rate will increase by this amount, about 25,000 additional breast cancer cases will be detected each year. About 19,540 African-American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 6,000 will die from the disease just within this year. The study is not just a response to President Obama’s call for all Americans to have an electronic medical record, but to emphasize that early detection can save many African-American women’s lives.—Shavon S. Greene
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