Summary 12: "Women perceive their breast cancer risk to be higher than it really is." - REALLY!?

Women are insistent on mammograms, poll shows
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-24-mammogram24ONLINE_ST_N.htm)

Summary: The USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows that most American women will ignore new recommendations about mammograms, since they are controversial. These recommendations come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of government-appointed experts, who had previously told women to begin breast cancer screening at age 40. However, last week they suggested that most women don't need routine mammograms until age 50. Out of 1,136 women asked in the new survey, 76 percent of them say that they disagree or strongly disagree with the recommendations. This may be because the women were confused on the panels' motives. They were thinking that it was all based on costs when it really was based on scientific studies. It could also be because the women seemed to perceive their breast cancer risk to be higher than it really is. According to the National Cancer Institute, 1.4 percent is the chance that a 40-year-old develops breast cancer over the next decade. While 40 percent of women estimate that it is 20 percent to 50 percent.

Session 26: Blog