Why women avoid breast screening
A new Canadian study has found that older women who fear breast cancer avoid routine screening unless they feel they can beat the disease.
A team led by Associate Professor Margaret E. A. Black of the School of Nursing at McMasters University in Ontario, interviewed 198 women with no history of breast cancer, aged 50 to 75, to assess which factors predicted whether they would adhere to guidelines calling for women to undergo mammography every other year.
The researchers found that women who could envision the consequences of becoming ill were significantly more likely to get screened for breast cancer regularly if they believed they could battle health problems.
Women who were not concerned about breast cancer but perceived that mammography would benefit their health also were more likely to get screened than women who were worried but thought mammography wouldn't make a difference.
"The present findings support the notion that objective risk is insufficient to promote behaviour and suggests that this risk needs to be personally relevant," the investigators said.
Overall, more than half of the women went for routine screening however the researchers found that women age 50 to 69 years were more likely to adhere to the screening guidelines than women age 70 to 75 years (58 percent versus 43 percent). Women over the age of 70 were most likely to report that there was "no need" for them to get screened.
The study also showed that women who had clinical breast examinations were much more likely to go for regular mammography screening. However, women who had a history of noncancer breast problems, such pain, swelling, a benign lump or abnormal mammogram were no more likely to adhere to the screening guidelines than other women. Women with family histories of breast cancer also were no more likely than those without a family history to get screened every two years.
The study is published in the April Issue of Health Education & Behavior, a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Public Health Education.