Women with false-positive mammograms suffer serious anxiety
January 14th, 2011 - 6:17 pm ICT by ANILondon, Jan 14 (ANI): Women who received false-positive mammograms report, face serious anxiety and reduced quality of life for at least a year, according to a study.
Researchers from The Netherlands show that patients with false-positive results - where the mammogram is abnormal but no cancer is present - had to undergo more diagnostic procedures than women with breast cancer before they were given the all clear.
They spoke to 385 women with abnormal mammogram results - 152 were subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer, but the other 233 had false-positive results and did not have cancer.
“The women who received false-positives in our study experienced a significant reduction in their quality of life, especially if they were prone to anxiety, and the effects of this lasted at least a year,” said lead author Lideke van der Steeg, Tilburg University.
“In fact, women who had a tendency to be anxious fared much worse if they received a false-positive - which is estimated to happen in 60 per cent of abnormal mammograms - than if they were actually diagnosed with breast cancer,” he added.
Women with abnormal mammograms attending three hospitals over a five-year period were invited to participate. Their quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life instrument 100.
Clinical data were obtained from the women’s medical records and they were also asked to complete questionnaires providing demographic information such as age, marital status, education and socioeconomic status.
The study was published online by BJS, the British Journal of Surgery. (ANI)
- MRI recommended for women with personal history of breast cancer - Nov 29, 2010
- Dense boobs linked to breast cancer return - Oct 08, 2010
- Worrying about breast cancer returning can hit women's quality of life - Mar 28, 2011
- Experts offer 10 tips for breast cancer screening and early detection - Oct 10, 2010
- Annual breast cancer screening starting at age 40 cuts mastectomy risk - Dec 02, 2010
- Women born to older mothers may develop breast cancer - Feb 07, 2012
- Smoking ups death risk due to breast cancer - Nov 09, 2010
- Women's breast riddled with metal by mistake - Mar 23, 2011
- Decreased breast density over time means decreased breast cancer risk - Apr 21, 2010
- Use of preoperative breast MRI results in high cancer yield - Jan 13, 2011
- No need to wait until age 50 for breast cancer screening: Study - Oct 01, 2010
- Future docs may have to pass new breast exam test - Mar 25, 2011
- 20-year-long study finds prostate cancer screening doesn't cut death risk - Apr 01, 2011
- Annual mammograms beginning at 40 save 71pc more lives: Study - Jan 28, 2011
- Body fat distribution linked to a higher risk of ER-negative breast cancer - Dec 16, 2010
Tags: abnormal mammogram results, abnormal mammograms, breast cancer, british journal of surgery, demographic information, diagnostic procedures, fact women, false positives, journal of surgery, life instrument, london jan, mammograms, medical records, qol, questionnaires, socioeconomic status, study researchers, tilburg university, van der steeg, world health organization