Age-related differences in breast carcinoma knowledge, beliefs, and perceived risk among women visiting an academic general medicine practice
✍ Scribed by Nancy C. Dolan; Alice M. Lee; Mary McGrae McDermott
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 104 KB
- Volume
- 80
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0008-543X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
noma knowledge, beliefs, and perceived risk. Women's risk estimates were com-2 Northwestern University Medical School, Chipared with individual risk probabilities derived from the Gail model. Women's cago, Illinois.
beliefs about when to begin screening mammography were compared with the beliefs of the attending physicians in the practice. Questionnaire results were compared across age groups.
RESULTS.
Six hundred seventy-four women completed the survey. Overall, knowledge scores were negatively correlated with age (correlation coefficient Å 00.30, P Å 0.001). The level of knowledge about the benefits of mammography was high across all age groups. In contrast, knowledge that breast carcinoma incidence increases with age was poor. Only 28% of all women recognized that breast carcinoma is more common among women age 65 years than among women age 40 years. Among all women, 26% underestimated their risk of developing breast carcinoma in the next 10 years, 32% correctly estimated Presented at the Midwestern Society of General their risk, and 42% overestimated their risk. Fifty-five percent thought that Internal Medicine meeting, Chicago, Illinois, September 20, 1996, and the Annual Society of mammography should begin when a woman is age 30 -35 years. In contrast, General Internal Medicine meeting, Washington, all surveyed physicians recommended that a woman start undergoing mam-DC, May 2, 1997.
mography at age 40 years or older.
CONCLUSIONS.
In this primary care setting, older women had poorer breast carci-Supported by the Illinois Department of Public noma knowledge than younger women but were equally likely to appreciate the Health Breast and Cervical Cancer Research benefits of mammography. Most women were unaware that age is a risk factor for Fund.
breast carcinoma. Improved education of females by their physicians may resolve Dr. Dolan is partially supported by an American some of the observed discrepancies regarding the optimal age to begin screening Cancer Society Cancer Control Career Developmammography.