Prevalence of Social Needs Among Mammography Patients

Background: Although breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women, advancements in early detection and treatment have significantly reduced mortality rates overall. Despite a general decline in breast cancer deaths, many women, especially rural and Hispanic women, continue to experience higher mortality rates due to later stage diagnoses, diagnostic delays, and unmet social needs. These factors result in challenges in getting timely and quality follow-up care after abnormal mammograms. It's essential to address these disparities to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity at better health outcomes. Our goal is to identify the prevalence of social needs among underserved women requiring follow-up to a routine breast cancer screening mammogram.

Methods: We contacted patients who had abnormal results from routine mammogram screenings at a large academic medical center with eight sites across Utah. These participants were asked to complete a validated 10-item, self-reported social needs screener. The screener asks about: transportation challenges, financial strains, utility needs, housing instability, employment status, child or elder care difficulties.

Results: From May 1, 2024 to March 11, 2025, a total of 1,439 women were invited to complete the screener. Of these women, 579 completed the social needs screener, with 287 (49.6%) reporting at least one social need. This represents 19.9% of all those invited indicating at least one social need. 22.3% (n=130) of women who reported having social needs had three or more social needs. Financial strain was the most predominant social need, with 25.6% (n=148) of respondents reporting they did not have enough money for items like clothing or furniture in the past month, and 18.5% (n=107) of women indicating they did not have enough money for food in the last month. Additionally, the second most predominant need was employment status, with 16.6% (n=96) of women reporting being unemployed and searching for work.

Conclusions and Implications. Based on these results, it is feasible to evaluate the presence of social needs in a population of women undergoing screening mammography. Our results suggest a sizable amount of women (19.9% of completed screeners) at a large academic medical center indicate the presence of social needs. Identifying these individuals is critical to being able to intervene and support referrals to community services, which is likely to lead to improved access to medical care. Future interventions and policies should incorporate social needs assessments and referrals to improve health outcomes for underserved populations, based on our preliminary data highlighting the prevalence of social needs in mammography settings.