NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey
entitled "Diagnosis Anxiety: The Working Mother Breast Screening
Report" sheds important new information on the level of
awareness women have about breast cancer today and what they are
doing to help reduce the disease or detect it early. The survey of
2,502 women, conducted by the Working Mother Research Institute
(WMRI) and sponsored by GE Healthcare, revealed that while 80% of
the women have had a mammogram, and 70% of those women get an
annual breast screening:
- Only one out of five women surveyed who have dense breasts know
that they may be at a higher risk of breast cancer.
Kelly Roberts, MD, director of
breast imaging curriculum at the University of
Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System in Chicago, calls this finding "alarming"
considering that a woman with extremely dense breasts has twice as
much risk of developing cancer in the next 10 years as a woman with
average density. In addition, mammography is estimated to be only
48% effective in detecting cancers in dense breasts, compared to
98% effective in typical fatty breasts, according to Dr.
Roberts.1
- Fewer than half (43%) knows that having dense breast tissue
makes it harder to read a mammogram.
Jessie Jacob, MD, chief medical
officer of Breast Health at GE Healthcare, says, "Dense breast
tissue masks cancers making it difficult for radiologists to detect
on a standard mammogram. As a breast imaging physician, I
educate my patients about risk factors around breast density and
the supplemental screening options that exist because there is no
one size fits all approach to screening women with dense
breasts."
A full report of the WMRI study can be found here.
- In addition, only 9% of the survey participants with dense
breasts say their doctor recommended a supplemental screening
breast exam.
- Only 21% knew that if your mother had dense breasts, you are
likely to follow.
The Callback Quandary
Nearly half of the women
surveyed who have had a mammogram have been asked to return for
more tests. For women with dense breasts, that number jumped to
69%. Three quarters of women in the survey who have been called
back feel nervous, and 43% find it difficult to focus on day-to-day
activities while waiting for results.
Carol Evans, president of Working
Mother Media, says, "This new WMRI survey touches on a topic that
affects all women, whether or not they're working and whether or
not they're moms. The big questions about how to protect
ourselves always loom, and the annual ritual of mammography is a
time of intense anxiety for many of us."
Testing Info
While 84% of the respondents call the
level of detail they received about their mammogram results
"acceptable," only 59% say they are satisfied with their
interaction with their radiologist and slightly fewer feel informed
about the different types of breast imaging technology available to
them.
Nine out of 10 consider mammograms to be an important part of
health management while 80% have had at least one mammogram.
Seventy percent of the respondents who have had a mammogram get
screened annually. And a vast majority of women who have had
mammograms report a positive experience, with 92% saying they were
satisfied with their interaction with their technician, the overall
atmosphere of the facility (91%) and how quickly they got an
appointment (90%).
Why Women Skip Breast Screening
For the 20 percent of
women who hadn't had a mammogram, the top reason for skipping it
was cost (36%) followed by 24% who say it's "not necessary," 15%
who say they never got around to it and 13% who are afraid.
Minorities & Mammograms
The Working Mother
survey found that minority women, who comprised 14% of the survey,
report slightly different breast screening experiences. They are
more likely to say they received their first mammogram to be
proactive about their health (25% of minority women vs. 21% of the
total sample). However, they are less likely to have gotten their
first mammogram because a doctor recommended one as a baseline (42%
of the minority women vs. 48%, total sample).
About the Survey Respondents
The survey was completed
by a total of 2,502 women, who were at least 35 years old with an
average age of 56, spanning 50 states. Eighty percent of the
respondents have had a mammogram, breast ultrasound other breast
imaging. A total of 68% of the women say they do not have a family
history of breast cancer while 32% do. The ethnic makeup of the
survey was 86% white, 9% black, 2% Asian, 2% American Indian and 1%
Other, with 4% of the sample also identifying as Hispanic.
About the Methodology
The Working Mother Research
Institute developed a national survey and fielded it through a
series of email blasts sent by Survey Sampling International to
women who had agreed to participate. Bonnier Custom Insights
received and tabulated the responses, which were analyzed by Maria
S. Ferris Consulting LLC.
About Working Mother Media
Working Mother Media (WMM),
a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonnier.com), publishes
Working Mother magazine and its companion website,
workingmother.com. The Working Mother Research Institute
(workingmother.com/wmri), the National Association for Female
Executives (nafe.com) and Diversity Best Practices
(diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. WMM's
mission is to serve as a champion of culture
change. Working Mother magazine is the only
national magazine for career-committed mothers. Follow us on
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides
transformational medical technologies and services to meet the
demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable
healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things
that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough
challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient
monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical
manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions,
GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare
to their patients.
Tackling Cancer
At GE, we envision a day when cancer
is no longer a deadly disease. In September 2011, GE Healthcare launched an
ambitious global campaign against cancer, committing $1 billion of its total R&D budget over the
next five years to expand its advanced cancer diagnostic and
molecular imaging capabilities, as well as its advanced
technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and for
cancer research. By the end of 2012, $335M had been invested, setting GE on track to
meet its five-year commitment. To accelerate progress, and to
help clinicians deliver better care to 10 million patients by 2020,
the campaign against cancer combines the strength of GE's portfolio
of cancer technologies with the innovations born from
collaborations with key partners. To learn more on how GE is
tackling cancer, see: http://www.getacklingcancer.com/.
1 Kolb et al. Radiology 2002; 225: 165-175
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SOURCE Working Mother Media