Home Resources Research Dense Breast Tissue NATIONAL SURVEY SHOWS 95% OF WOMEN DO NOT KNOW THEIR BREAST DENSITY DESPITE INCREASED CANCER RISK!

NATIONAL SURVEY SHOWS 95% OF WOMEN DO NOT KNOW THEIR BREAST DENSITY DESPITE INCREASED CANCER RISK!

To read the entire Press Release - Unaware of Breast Density! Click here.

NEW YORK, May 20, 2010 - A national survey of U.S. women ages 40 and older revealed good news and bad news about women’s overall knowledge of breast health and how to reduce their risk of cancer. Seventy-four percent indicated they have had a mammogram with 66 percent indicating they get mammograms on a regular basis. That’s the good news in the face of concerns that controversial breast screening guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force would discourage women from getting regular mammograms. The bad news is that 95 percent of women ages 40+ do not know their breast density and nearly 90 percent did not know it increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Compounding the issue was the fact that doctors have spoken to less than one in 10 women ages 40+ (9%) about breast density. The low awareness of breast density and the fact that doctors are not talking to patients about its link to increased cancer risk is particularly troublesome to breast cancer survivor turned advocate Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D., founder of Are You Dense, a non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public about dense breast tissue.

Back to Resources

Learn More

Donate

Contact

AYD In The News

What is Dense Breast Tissue?

How Do I Know if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

What Do I Do if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

Are You Dense? Fact #1:
Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #2:
Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #3:
Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.
Are You Dense? Fact #4:
American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #5:
While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #6:
A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.
Are You Dense? Fact #7:
Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #8:
A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.
Are You Dense? Fact #9:
Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #10
There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.