Survey Finds Women Have Many Misconceptions About Breast Cancer.

2001 NOV 8 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a recent nationwide survey, the American Cancer Society found that many women are misinformed when it comes to understanding breast cancer risk.

According to the survey, nearly half of the respondents thought that women in the United States have a 30-50% chance of developing the disease, while 66% believed that the risk is greater than 20%. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, the average lifetime risk for breast cancer is approximately 11%. Women who were surveyed also thought that the risk for getting breast cancer is greatest between the ages of 30 and 49, when in reality, that risk increases with age. According to the Society, 77% of new cases and 84% of breast cancer deaths reported between 1994 and 1998 occurred in women age 50 and older.

While the risks are much lower than what the women in the survey understand them to be, breast cancer death tolls are still too high. By the end of this year, 192,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,600 women will die of this disease.

"This important research shows there is a lot of information out there about breast cancer risk, which women are unable to easily understand in terms of their personal risk for getting this terrible disease," said Vicki Rakowski, RN, ET, American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division. "The American Cancer Society encourages women to talk to their doctors about what breast cancer risk means to them personally."

Women in the survey also said they are most likely to talk to their female friends about health issues, especially breast ...