How Likely Are You to Get Breast Cancer?
How Likely Are You to Get Breast Cancer?
Oct. 18, 2001 -- Breast-cancer awareness seems to be at an all-time high, and more women than ever are having mammograms to screen for the disease. But how much do women really know about their risk of breast cancer and the benefits of screening? Not as much as they think they do, new research suggests.
A nationwide survey conducted by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that women routinely overestimated their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. The average woman has about an 11% lifetime risk of getting the disease, but nearly half of those surveyed believed their risk was between 30% and 50%. Many also wrongly believed women in their 30s and 40s are more likely to be diagnosed than older women.
A separate study from Switzerland found that women also overestimated the effectiveness of mammograms. More than half of those surveyed said they believed screening reduces the risk of breast cancer death by between half and 75%, far higher than most studies suggest.
"It seems clear that the widespread use of a marketing approach to telling women about mammography screening has led to an exaggerated idea of the method's effectiveness," study author Eric Chamot, MD, PhD, of the University of Geneva, tells WebMD. "I am very much in favor of screening. But almost nobody tells women that mammography screening is not 100% effective. Women are not getting that message."
The ACS recommends that women have annual mammograms starting at age 40. Up to 70% of women who are eligible are being screened in the U.S., ACS spokeswoman Joann Schellenbach tells WebMD. She says the European studies relied on by Chamot and colleagues greatly underestimate the value of mammography screening. Those studies suggest the technique has been able to reduce breast cancer deaths by about 30% in women aged 50 to 70. But Schellenbach says recent studies including younger women and those receiving annual screening have found that mammograms reduce mortality by up to 60%.
Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, who teaches at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, has done extensive research on attitudes about breastcancer and screening among U.S. women. She too has found that women tend to overestimate their risk of breast cancer and the value of mammography. She says public- health campaigns have failed to present a balanced picture of the benefits of screening.
How Likely Are You to Get Breast Cancer?
Oct. 18, 2001 -- Breast-cancer awareness seems to be at an all-time high, and more women than ever are having mammograms to screen for the disease. But how much do women really know about their risk of breast cancer and the benefits of screening? Not as much as they think they do, new research suggests.
A nationwide survey conducted by the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that women routinely overestimated their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. The average woman has about an 11% lifetime risk of getting the disease, but nearly half of those surveyed believed their risk was between 30% and 50%. Many also wrongly believed women in their 30s and 40s are more likely to be diagnosed than older women.
A separate study from Switzerland found that women also overestimated the effectiveness of mammograms. More than half of those surveyed said they believed screening reduces the risk of breast cancer death by between half and 75%, far higher than most studies suggest.
"It seems clear that the widespread use of a marketing approach to telling women about mammography screening has led to an exaggerated idea of the method's effectiveness," study author Eric Chamot, MD, PhD, of the University of Geneva, tells WebMD. "I am very much in favor of screening. But almost nobody tells women that mammography screening is not 100% effective. Women are not getting that message."
Scary Messages
The ACS recommends that women have annual mammograms starting at age 40. Up to 70% of women who are eligible are being screened in the U.S., ACS spokeswoman Joann Schellenbach tells WebMD. She says the European studies relied on by Chamot and colleagues greatly underestimate the value of mammography screening. Those studies suggest the technique has been able to reduce breast cancer deaths by about 30% in women aged 50 to 70. But Schellenbach says recent studies including younger women and those receiving annual screening have found that mammograms reduce mortality by up to 60%.
Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, who teaches at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, has done extensive research on attitudes about breastcancer and screening among U.S. women. She too has found that women tend to overestimate their risk of breast cancer and the value of mammography. She says public- health campaigns have failed to present a balanced picture of the benefits of screening.
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