An average of 82 per cent of the women surveyed said the topic of early detection of breast cancer was very important to them, according to a recent report.

Survey participants, especially in Germany, Sweden, and Austria, believe that regular screening examinations can detect changes in the breast earlier or even prevent diseases, said the survey conducted by renowned German market research institute Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) on  behalf of Siemens.

The firm surveyed women aged 25 to 65 with different levels of education and income. A total of 4,000 women from Austria, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Russia, Sweden, and the US participated in the survey.

The survey mainly addressed the women’s experiences with breast cancer examinations, their general knowledge about early detection, and their personal feelings about the trustworthiness of information sources.

“This selection allows us to draw informative, international comparisons, because early detection is managed quite differently in the various countries – and this affects the mindset and the knowledge of the women,” said Norbert Gaus, head of the clinical products division at Siemens Healthcare.

“One possible explanation for this may be that several non-government organizations currently run massive information and awareness campaigns in India and encourage women to get involved in the topic,“ said Lucienne Bormann, project leader at GfK.

In India, 35 per cent of the interviewed women indicate increasing breast cancer awareness as a reason why they find breast cancer screening important – a statement that played virtually no role in the other countries.

Accordingly, the majority of survey participants in India rate their own knowledge regarding breast cancer screening as good. However, looking at the average of all surveyed countries, only 40 per cent of the interviewed women feel that they are well or very well informed; here particularly Russia and China got low results.

Only every other German woman stated that they know an official screening program for breast cancer – although since 2003, women in Germany between the ages of 50 and 69 years have been invited to participate in a public mammography screening programme.

However, interviewed women in this age group more frequently state to be familiar with a screening programme.

Based on the survey results, Siemens plans to prepare country-specific information material for breast cancer screening that, for instance, can support physicians in instructing their patients and increasing their awareness for this disease.

“The survey revealed that women most likely trust their physicians when seeking reliable information about the topic of breast cancer,” said Gaus.

Particularly the women in Germany (89 per cent), Austria (95 per cent), and Brazil (73 per cent) state they consider their gynecologists to be the most trustworthy information source regarding breast cancer screening.

The family physician was also mentioned frequently. In contrast, Swedish women prefer to obtain information from public information centers or governmental agencies.

The country average shows that more than two thirds of the interviewed women consider a consultation with the physician before or after an examination to be the most important service in connection with breast cancer screening. – TradeArabia News Service