Half of women in France not aware of breast cancer risk factors
A new study ahead of awareness month Pink October revealed ‘concerning results’ says an anti-cancer group
The study found that many French women had low awareness levels of the risk factors of breast cancer, ahead of awareness month Octobre Rose (Pink October)
Jo Panuwat D/Shutterstock
More than half of women in France are not aware of the risk factors of breast cancer, a new study has found, ahead of awareness month campaign ‘Pink October’.
Anti-cancer group La Ligue contre le cancer, which conducted the study, also said that figures suggest that the number of women attending breast cancer screenings is dropping.
Read also: Breast cancer: Who can get free screenings in France?
The study* which was published on September 27 found that 51% of French women (14.8 million women) are not very familiar with the signs of breast cancer or the disease in general.
A considerable 1.7 million women said they were “completely unaware” of the disease, which the Ligue contre le cancer said “very probably hinders attention to risk factors and screening initiatives”.
Read also: Cancer deaths rising among under 65s in France, says specialist
Read also: Why are more young people in France getting cancer?
Risk factors
Other findings included:
Two in three women (63%) are unaware that alcohol is a major risk factor for breast cancer
Almost half (49%) did not identify smoking as a risk factor
Among smokers, 52% were unaware that smoking considerably increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
The group said it was concerned by these results, and highlighted that attendance of breast cancer screening campaigns has been falling steadily for 10 years.
Read more: Cancer expert alarmed by ignorance of risk factors in France
In 2022, only 44.9% of women aged between 50 and 74 had attended a mammogram screening every two years. This is despite “90% of breast cancer being curable if detected at an early stage”, the group said.
A new prevention campaign is launching this week, entitled ‘Plus forts ensemble (Stronger Together)’, to coincide with Octobre Rose (Pink October), the Ligue announced. It added that “to prevent cancer, we need to talk about it so that we know and understand the associated risk factors”.
*The study was carried out online on 1,000 women aged 18 or over and representative of the French population.
