Breast Cancer Cases Diagnosed in Early
Stages
The following staging maps paint a dramatic portrait of the power of a
comprehensive, collaborative approach to cancer control that has impacted
breast cancer in Michigan. Since 1985, the combined efforts of many partners,
including health care providers, retailers, community-based advocates,
survivor groups, the media, Michigan's Breast and Cervical Cancer Control
Program, have helped to promote routine breast cancer screening and to
increase access to screening for women ages 40 and older.
This first map shows the situation regarding early stage
breast cancer diagnosed across Michigan between 1985 and 1987, with different
colors representing the proportion of breast cancer cases in these counties
that were diagnosed at an early stage.
Ideally, this map should show as much blue as possible, which would mean
that most counties had 56 percent or more of breast cancers diagnosed
at an early stage when the disease is most treatable. Likewise, there
should be as little yellow as possible, meaning that very few counties
had 39 percent or fewer of their breast cancers were diagnosed in an early
stage.
But, notice that this picture is not ideal. The map shows only a relatively
few blue counties.
Now, note the change in Michigan 10 years later (1995-1997), following
a decade of public and private partners collaborating to educate women
and their providers about breast cancer, to improve the quality of early
detection and treatment, and to extend access to early detection services
to indigent populations.
In this later map, most Michigan counties
are now depicted in blue, meaning that the majority of new breast cancers
in these counties are being diagnosed at an early stage, affording these
women the best chance of long-term survival.
But, blue begins at 56 percent, and this is still quite low in terms of
the proportion of cases diagnosed. More work is needed.
Currently, Michigan's Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program serves
about 20,000 women per year. Yet, according to census data, another 150,000
Michigan women (ages 40-64) are eligible to participate in the program.
More efforts are required to:
Educate women about the available services;
Find funding sources to pay for breast cancer treatment,
if needed; and
Ensure that Medicare recipients who are no longer eligible
for BCCCP are able to access appropriate preventive health services,
such as breast cancer screening.
Colorectal Cancer Cases Diagnosed in Early Stages
Now, look at the comparable state maps for early stage
colorectal cancer.
This first map shows the situation regarding early stage
colorectal cancer diagnosed across Michigan between 1985 and 1987. Again,
more blue and less yellow is ideal, meaning most of these cancers are
being diagnosed at an early stage. However, the map shows that most Michigan
counties had 39 percent or fewer of their colorectal cancer cases diagnosed
at an early stage.
This map shows the situation 10 years later in the mid-
to late-1990s. Notice that despite some improvement, this later map does
not show the same dramatic shift that was seen in the breast cancer diagnosis
maps. Not much progress has been made in colorectal cancer diagnosis during
the same decade. By 1997, there were still very few Michigan counties
with the majority of their colorectal cancer cases diagnosed while at
an early stage.
Yet, with equal resources devoted to comprehensively addressing colorectal
cancer, Michigan could paint this map as blue as the one showing breast
cancer staging improvements in the late 1990s.
