Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Aug;20(8):1135-9.
doi: 10.1089/jwh.2010.2493. Epub 2011 Jun 15.

Self-detection remains a key method of breast cancer detection for U.S. women

Mara Y Roth  1 , Joann G Elmore, Joyce P Yi-Frazier, Lisa M Reisch, Natalia V Oster, Diana L Miglioretti
Affiliations

Self-detection remains a key method of breast cancer detection for U.S. women

Mara Y Roth et al. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2011 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: The method by which breast cancer is detected becomes a factor for long-term survival and should be considered in treatment plans. This report describes patient characteristics and time trends for various methods of breast cancer detection in the United States.

Methods: The 2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationally representative self-report health survey, included 361 women survivors diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2003. Responses to the question, How was your breast cancer found? were categorized as accident, self-examination, physician during routine breast examination, mammogram, and other. We examined responses by income, race, age, and year of diagnosis.

Results: Most women survivors (57%) reported a detection method other than mammographic examination. Women often detected breast cancers themselves, either by self-examination (25%) or by accident (18%).

Conclusions: Despite increased use of screening mammography, a large percentage of breast cancers are detected by the patients themselves. Patient-noted breast abnormalities should be carefully evaluated.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Self-reported method of breast cancer detection (n=361). Results are similar when analyses include the 13 women with incomplete data on age or year of diagnosis and the 38 women diagnosed before 1980 (total n=412).
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Method of breast cancer detection by time period of diagnosis. Data for four categories of detection method are shown. Data for women reporting a detection method of Other are not shown; however, those results are as follows: 1980–1989=3% (n=2); 2000–2003=2% (n=2). Each time period sums to 100%, including Other category.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Method of breast cancer detection by age of the woman at diagnosis. Data for four categories of detection method are shown. Data for women reporting a detection method of Other are not shown; however, those results are as follows: 50–59=3% (n=3); 70+=1% (n=1). Each age group sums to 100%, including the Other Category.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. McPherson CP. Swenson KK. Jolitz G. Murray CL. Survival of women ages 40–49 years with breast carcinoma according to method of detection. Cancer. 1997;79:1923–1932. - PubMed
    1. Shen Y. Yang Y. Inoue LY. Munsell MF. Miller AB. Berry DA. Role of detection method in predicting breast cancer survival: Analysis of randomized screening trials. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005;97:1195–1203. - PubMed
    1. Berry DA. Cronin KA. Plevritis SK, et al. Effect of screening and adjuvant therapy on mortality from breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1784–1792. - PubMed
    1. National Cancer Institute. Cancer trends progress report—2005 update. 2005.
    1. Coates RJ. Uhler RJ. Brogan DJ, et al. Patterns and predictors of the breast cancer detection methods in women under 45 years of age (United States) Cancer Causes Control. 2001;12:431–442. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms