The study reviewed here found that many teen girls worry about breast cancer and think their risk of breast cancer is higher than it really is. The teens also think their mothers and grandmothers have a high risk of breast cancer. The results were reported at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Breastcancer.org founder and president Marisa Weiss and other Breastcancer.org staff members did the study as part of breast health assemblies for adolescent girls in Philadelphia and Atlanta high schools. Before the assemblies the girls answered questions about breast cancer.
The results:
The girls believed that many common myths about breast cancer causes were true. Infection, drug use, stress, tanning, caffeine consumption, bumps or bruises to the breast, antiperspirant use, and breastfeeding were named as causes of breast cancer by some of the girls. These are all myths. NONE of these things are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer.
The girls were very aware of media stories on breast cancer. The researchers think media coverage may be contributing to the girls' fear and misconceptions. The researchers are concerned that the girls' fear and misconceptions could stop them from making healthy choices to keep their breast cancer risk as low as it can be.
Facts, reassurance, and a thorough discussion of breast health -- in school or at home -- are powerful tools that can replace girls' fears and misconceptions with knowledge and healthy choices. If you have teen girls in your life, they also may have the breast cancer fears and misconceptions found in this study. Consider starting a positive discussion about breast health with them. Breast cancer is not inevitable. As teens, they have an opportunity to adopt healthy diet and lifestyle choices for the rest of their lives to keep breast cancer risk as low as it can be.
Dr. Weiss and her daughter, Isabel, have written Taking Care of Your "Girls": A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens. In the book they explain breast development and breast health -- separating myth from fact and offering steps to improve breast health and reduce breast cancer risk over a lifetime. You can learn more about the book by visiting Taking Care of Your Girls.
SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 30 (MedPage Today) -- Adolescent girls fear breast cancer even though they generally know the disease is uncommon in their age group, according to a survey reported here.
Overall, 26% of 1,700 respondents ages eight to 18 said they feared they would get the disease, Marisa Weiss, M.D., of Breastcancer.org, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Moreover, three-fourths of those surveyed feared their mothers would develop breast cancer, even though only 3% of the girls' mothers had done so, the investigators said. However, most of the respondents knew of a relative or close acquaintance of a friend who had breast cancer. And all are sensitive to media reports.
"These factors seem to contribute to their fear of the disease and their tendency to overestimate breast cancer risk," Dr. Weiss and colleagues said.
Many of the girls' answers to survey questions suggested substantial misinformation and ignorance about breast cancer risk factors and breast health, the investigators added.
The survey was conducted as part of information gathering for the book Taking Care of Your "Girls," a project of Breastcancer.org, a nonprofit organization that provides consumer-oriented information about breast cancer. The book was published to provide girls with information about issues related to breast cancer and breast health.
The Internet-based survey was conducted prior to "breast health assemblies" at seven schools in Philadelphia and Atlanta. Key findings included:
"The impact of a girl's unrealistic fear of breast cancer is unknown," Dr. Weiss and colleagues concluded. "We are concerned that it may deter rather than motivate healthy behaviors. Breast health programs are necessary to replace fear and inaccurate information with facts and reassurance."
The study was sponsored by Breastcancer.org and Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pa.
Neither Dr. Weiss nor her collaborators reported any relevant disclosures.
Primary source: San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Source reference: Weiss, M et al "Breast cancer fear in girls: a major 'side effect' of breast cancer in loved ones and a backlash of ubiquitous media coverage" SABCS 2008; Abstracts. 332s. Abstract 5078.
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