Seven out of ten Argentines did not visit the doctor for preventive breast cancer controls during the pandemic and only 22% made virtual consultations to maintain the annual frequency of their check-ups, according to the National Survey of Public Opinion on Breast Cancer presented by the Avón Foundation.
Postponement of the doctor’s visit was more common among women under 40 years of age (69%), and in the middle (74%) and low (76%) strata; While among the reasons the fear of catching Covid prevailed (51%) followed by the lack of shifts (34%), lack of time (13%) and work difficulties (10%).
On the other hand, only 23% claimed to have carried out medical check-ups with the usual frequency, almost 3 out of 10 said they had decreased the frequency and almost a fifth of those surveyed said they had not had any check-ups.
However, 74% of Argentine women consider breast cancer a very serious problem, 93% of those surveyed considered that it is “very important” to have annual check-ups to prevent the disease and only 1% believed that it is ” less important”.
The national survey is part of a larger study, the Regional Public Opinion Survey on Breast Cancer 2021, developed during July and August 2021 in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, to 7,000 women older than 16 years.
“The purpose of this survey is to listen to the voices, fears, knowledge or lack of information that women in Latin American countries have about breast cancer, a disease that detected early has more than 90% chances of healing, ”said Ana Inés Álvarez, executive director of the Avón Foundation.
In addition to the fact that 7 out of 10 women did not undergo preventive medical consultations or breast controls during the Covid-19 pandemic for fear of contracting the disease, the report sets off other “alerts.”
On the one hand, “only 3 out of 10 women in the region recognize mammography as the most effective early detection method, while more than half of women consider self-examination as the most successful mechanism”, despite that mammography is recognized by the international medical community as the best way for early detection, “since it allows to identify abnormalities in the breasts even before the existence of external signs”
In contrast, only 1% know that breast cancer may not show symptoms in its early stages and may not present external signs identifiable by sight or touch.
“Breast self-examination is so ingrained in women as the most important method, in large part because of the communication messages that were transmitted to them for years, such as ‘taking care of your breasts is in your hands,'” said doctor Karina Pesce of the Argentine Society of Mastology.
This communication campaign “led women to value self-examination over mammography as a method of early detection”, so now “work should be done to position mammography as the main method of early detection of breast cancer.”
On the other hand, seven out of 10 women at risk age (over 40 years) expressed having had a mammogram at least once in their life. However, only 46% declare doing it with an annual frequency, even though 7 out of 10 respondents state that they know that this frequency is recommended.
However, in Argentina the percentage of women over 40 who had at least one mammogram is higher: 8 out of 10. Also, the frequency with which it is performed increases: 60% of women over 40 years old declare to go once a year to have a mammogram.
In relation to the high percentage of women over 40 who say they never had a mammogram (30%), Lalcec’s medical director, Antonio Lorusso, reflected that “it shows us that we still have a lot to do in education”, with programs that “should be directed both to the community and to medical professionals, who should indicate the performance of mammograms as the main study for the detection of breast cancer.”
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