Women worry about breast cancer -- although some more than others, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Increased thoughts about breast cancer and concerns about personal risk of the disease are associated with particular patient factors, such as having a personal or family history of breast cancer, wrote a team led by Dr. Lars Grimm of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC.
Grimm and colleagues sought to quantify women's personal estimates of breast cancer risk and frequency of breast cancer thoughts by conducting a survey distributed to 2,747 women who presented for screening mammography at five medical centers. The survey included questions about participants' baseline anxiety about breast cancer and their demographics; it also asked women to determine how many times in the past month they had thought about their risk of developing the disease (JACR, October 2019, Vol. 16:10, pp. 1393-1400).
The authors found the following:
- Women reported 2.5 thoughts of cancer on average in the prior month.
- More frequent thoughts were related to personal or family history of breast cancer, greater anxiety, and genetic testing (p < 0.001 for all).
- Among women without cancer risk factors, they had 1.4 cancer thoughts per month, which was linked to baseline anxiety (p < 0.001).
- Demographic variables related to the women's higher risk estimates were previous cancer diagnosis, higher education, genetic testing, white race, increased age, and greater anxiety (p < 0.01 for all).
"Improved understanding of patient perspectives could improve shared decision-making discussions and, thus, patient care," Grimm and colleagues concluded.
