“No cancer be you is the most common cancer in France and represents the leading cause of cancer death in women. writes Santé Publique France. On average, there are 60,000 new cases per year and 12,000 deaths over this period. If the median age of diagnosis is around 63 years, a screening is essential to limit mortality from this disease.
Indeed, “detected early, it is a cancer with a good prognosis, whose survival rate remains stable”, adds the National Cancer Institute. To do this, Santé Publique France has set up the national organized breast cancer screening program. This last “invites women aged 50 to 74 to have a screening mammogram every 2 years, supplemented by a clinical breast examination, i.e. a target population of nearly 10 million women”. More “still too few women are getting tested” regrets Public Health France in a news published on April 30.
Breast cancer: almost one in two women will be screened in 2023
Over the period 2022-2023, 46.5% of women who were invited to be screened carried out the examination, a percentage “down compared to the previous period (47.7% in 2021-2022)”. The authors specify that in the year 2023 alone, “around 2,620,500 women underwent an organized screening mammogram in 2023, representing a national participation rate of 48.2% (versus 44.8% in 2022)”.
In 2023, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Normandy and Brittany were the regions with the highest participation rate. The regions of Guyana, Corsica and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA), had the lowest levels. The authors state that “the evolution over recent years of the participation rate also remains complex due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic which continues.”
Public Health France notes a steady increase in the rate of breast cancer
Following screening tests, Santé Publique France notes a regular increase in the rate of breast cancer. “This trend is consistent with the observed increase in the incidence of breast cancer in the general population,” underlines SPF. According to them, “the performance indicators concerning the characteristics of the cancers detected demonstrate an improvement in the practice of screening at first reading, with compliance with European targets”.
Also, following the organized screening program allows patients “to benefit from a quality organization and thus detect a possible anomaly or cancer at an early stage, to limit treatments and thus increase the chances of remission”.
As a reminder, between the ages of 50 and 74, it is advisable to consult every year for a clinical breast examination with or without symptoms.
Among the symptoms that should alert you, the government website Mon Parcours Handicap lists:
- the appearance of a lump in the breast or under an arm (armpit);
- a change in the skin;
- a change in the area surrounding the nipple;
- changes in the shape of the breasts.
Sources :
- Breast cancer screening: still too few women are screened – Santé Publique France
- Breast cancer: key points – National Cancer Institute
- Pink October: get screened for breast cancer – Mon Parcours Handicap
