Awareness campaigns for Breast cancer myths

October is being celebrated as the Breast cancer awareness month with an aim to remove most of the myths regarding it.

Despite all the education and awareness that is being spread, still there are many myths about the breast cancer that need to be removed. For this purpose a breast cancer awareness rally was organised in Amsterdam and October is being celebrated as the breast cancer month.

The biggest myth amongst women is that family history is the most common risk factor for the breast cancer. But the truth is that the genes responsible for the breast cancer are found to be inherited only in 5 to 10 percent cases.

Another most common myth is that breast cancer is the second most lethal disease. A survey was conducted in which the women were right in saying that heart disease is the leading killer disease. But according to the National Centre for Health Statistics, there are diseases which are responsible for more deaths than breast cancer, which accounts for around 40,000 deaths in a year. These include stroke (96,000 deaths), lung cancer (71,000), chronic lower respiratory disease (67,000) and Alzheimer’s disease (45,000).

The National Breast Cancer Coalition mentioned that early detection of breast cancer does not happen as women are not aware that it can affect anybody and not just the women with a family history in breast cancer. Breast cancer can be controlled provided it is detected at an early stage.

Breast cancer affects the women all ages equally although the risk increases with the aging. Heart disease is dangerous mostly after the age of 65 but breast cancer can affect a woman at an age as early as 20. Thus, women need to be vigilant all their lives in order to prevent it from getting lethal.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women. Between 1993-1997, there were 98.5 cases per every 100,000 of the population, up just 31 percent compared to 75 cases in 1978-82.

Among the surveyed woman, it was found that the statistics have been applied in a wrong way. They were found to believe that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. The correct interpretation is that a woman’s lifetime risk for developing breast cancer is about one in eight, or 12 percent.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 1,78,000 women will be diagnosed this year and the chances of breast cancer in them is one in 35. This is around 0.2 percent of the adult women population, as per the United States census data.

For the next four weeks, there will be a sea of pink ribbons as women’s groups promote October as breast cancer awareness month.