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Breast cancer mortality in relation to self-reported use of breast self-examination. A cohort study of 450,000 women

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Abstract

The benefits of breast self-examination (BSE) for reducingmortality from breast cancer are uncertain. We conductedan analysis of the relationship between self-reported practicingof BSE and mortality from breast cancer over13 years in a cohort of over 548,000women. The report of practicing BSE was unrelatedto breast cancer mortality. There was a smallbeneficial effect in those women who were thethinnest, but this effect was small and notstatistically significant. BSE was otherwise equally ineffective insubgroups defined by obesity level and family historyof breast cancer. We conclude that BSE, aspracticed by American women in 1959, did notreduce the risk of mortality from breast cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Department of Cancer Epidemiology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

    Lars Holmberg & Anders Ekbom

  2. American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Eugenia Calle

  3. Divison of Nutrition, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ali Mokdad & Tim Byers

Authors
  1. Lars Holmberg
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  2. Anders Ekbom
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  3. Eugenia Calle
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  4. Ali Mokdad
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  5. Tim Byers
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Holmberg, L., Ekbom, A., Calle, E. et al. Breast cancer mortality in relation to self-reported use of breast self-examination. A cohort study of 450,000 women. Breast Cancer Res Treat 43, 137–140 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005788729145

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005788729145

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