Breast cancer: less than one in two French women aged 50 to 74 will be screened in 2022

This figure “highlights the continued decline over the past 10 years in participation in breast cancer screening campaigns.” Only 44.9% of women aged 50 to 74 took part in a breast cancer screening campaign in 2022, La Ligue contre le Cancer reported in an OpinionWay poll published on Tuesday. By comparison, “participation rates exceed 80%” in the same age group in Denmark and Finland, the League Against Cancer reports. Thus, France is at the bottom of the European rankings.

Even more alarming for the association, 12% of French women aged 50 to 74 “admit they have never been screened”, representing “more than a million women”, although “94%” of women in this age group say that they are concerned about this screening. “However, if detected early, breast cancer can be cured in 90% of cases,” said Daniel Nizri, president of the League Against Cancer, in a press release. According to the French Ministry of Health, breast cancer affects approximately 62,000 people on the French mainland each year.

No symptoms

Specifically, according to this survey, 34% of the “more than 400,000 women affected by screening campaigns who are never screened” report “no symptoms.” “Screening is aimed specifically at people who do not complain about anything, in order to detect an incipient disease before the signs appear,” retorts Emmanuel Ricard, a representative of the League Against Cancer, in an interview with France Bleu. The study also noted that 6% of breast cancers in women under 50 “are often very aggressive due to the high estrogen content of the breast.”

This survey is being released days ahead of the launch of a nationwide awareness campaign, which will begin on October 1, 2023. “Pink October is an opportunity for maximum national mobilization to change the situation with our departmental committees, to mobilize society in its common fight for this cause,” said Daniel Nizri. The campaign “appeals to all women” and those around them and “encourages all women to undergo regular monitoring from the age of 50” and to “get tested.”