Are you confused by changing medical guidelines?
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Black women have the highest death rates from breast cancer, at 31.0 per 100,000 compared to 21.9 per 100,00. Or at age 45.
Or, self-exams are a waste of time, make women anxious and lead to unnecessary tests.
Included among the new recommendations, women with an average risk of breast cancer most women should begin yearly mammograms at age 45.
Even with the new findings, only you-with your doctor-can decide on the screening schedule that’s right for you. “I’m confused, and it’s what I do!”.
“My family was more anxious than I was, so I didn’t want to scare them”, she said.
These two women didn’t know each other until this summer, when Wahlstrom’s cancer brought them together. They ask when somebody’s not here, have you heard from this one, have you heard from that one.
My aunt had a tumor on her breast that grew to be the size of a lemon.
“About 12 percent of women in the USA (or 1 in 8) will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime”, the researchers wrote. In 2012, overall breast cancer incidence rates converged between blacks and whites as a result of increasing incidence rates in black women and stable rates in white women.
“So while our risk for developing breast cancer increases over the years”, she said, “the American Cancer Society is now recommending that women do less to detect a cancer early”.
Women age 40 and older should have a mammogram every year and should continue to do so for as long as they are in good health.
“I think we have a sense of wanting to help each other”, West said. Creating awareness is not just about wearing pink. For example, the number of breast cancer cases has not decreased much, and there is no cure for patients whose cancer has spread to the liver and other organs. For decades, breast cancer had been seen less often in black women than white women but somehow still claimed more lives in the former group.
“The World Cancer Research Fund worldwide estimates that one third of breast cancers could be prevented through healthy behaviors, including maintaining a healthy body weight, engaging in regular physical activity, and not drinking alcohol”, the report said, adding that evidence is growing that eating lots of fruits and vegetables may reduce the likelihood of getting hormone receptor-negative breast cancer.
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The article was published online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
