Go for frequent breast cancer screening, suggest researchers

A new Manchester study has found that a third of women are at higher risk of developing breast cancer and the good news is they can take full benefit of frequent screenings. Health experts always recommend the women especially those who are approaching 30 and above to undergo regular mammograms. The researchers at the University of Manchester have also found the scientific evidence into it. They say those with a higher than average risk of developing the disease should have annual mammograms. However, they concluded that three-yearly screenings remain appropriate for the majority of women. For the study, the researchers along with colleagues at the Queen Mary University of London involved 53,000 women who participated in the NHS Breast Screening Programme. Moreover, the information of those women (who agreed to take part) who attended routine breast screening in Manchester was also collected. Prof Gareth Evans, from the University of Manchester, the study’s chief investigator, unveiled the results at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Glasgow today.

“Our results suggest that three-yearly screening is very effective for around 70 per cent of the female population, but that those women who have a higher than average risk of developing breast cancer probably require more frequent screening, particularly as more advanced cancers were detected in these women,“Prof Evans said. Findings of the study The researchers discovered that 1,280 of the women had a high risk of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years. Another 14,720 women had an above average risk of developing breast cancer in the same period. This left 36,748 women with average or below average risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers found that 2.3 percent of those women with a high risk went on to develop breast cancer during the study, compared with 0.3 percent of those with the lowest risk. Less than 10 percent women accurately estimates breast cancer risk: Survey Breast cancers are becoming common disease now-a-days. A survey says fewer than 10% of women accurately estimate their risk of breast cancer. A survey of 10,000 women showed that women usually fail to accurately measure the symptoms as they are equally likely to overestimate or underestimate the risk of the disease. Compared with estimates derived from validated risk formulas, 9.4% of the women provided estimates that were in line with the calculated risk. About 45% of the remaining participates underestimated their risk and 46% overestimated the risk.

news Source:www.utahpeoplespost.com