The Breast Cancer Foundation (Fucam) yesterday presented an app aimed at young women to raise awareness in this sector about the possibility that this condition may also arise at an early age –and not only among older people–, and therefore acquire the habit of constant self-exploration.
At a press conference, the creators of the platform called Keep a Breast explained that this technological tool helps users to know how to explore their breasts to detect possible signs of cancer in this organ, in addition to facilitating contact with specialized medical personnel in case need a consultation.
Similarly, the app includes stories of women who survived the disease, systematizes the basic data of the users to form their clinical history and includes the possibility of conducting videoconferences with oncologists.
Dr. Jorge Enrique Monges, a member of the Fucam team, recalled that breast cancer is one of the main causes of death for women in Mexico due to the lack of timely detection of the disease, since when noticing lumps in their breasts , many of the patients spend valuable time by first discussing the issue with family members or non-specialized physicians.
The expert stressed that the average age of breast cancer detection in Mexico is 52 years, against 62 in the United States, which shows that it is increasingly common to find young patients in the country.
An example of this, Monges pointed out, is that 20 percent of Fucam users are under 40 years old and six percent are even under 35 years old.
Bad habits
On the other hand, the oncologist Betsabé Hernández pointed out that among the causes of the increase in cases of breast cancer at an early age is, on the one hand, a greater awareness on the subject, which leads to more episodes of exploration and detection.
However, habits such as sedentary lifestyle, smoking and poor diet also influence, and the fact that women with a higher level of preparation increasingly delay motherhood, which frequently leads to pregnancies after 30 years of age, identified as a risk element for breast cancer.
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