Young women and men learn to recognize symptoms better.
Every year, 17,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. You prefer not to think about it, and of course hope that it will spare you and your loved ones. That is why it is important that you can recognize the symptoms of breast cancer, so that you can catch them more quickly if things do go wrong. And this does not only apply to women, because the diagnosis is also increasing among men. Breast Care Foundation therefore publishes the so-called Breast Cancer Alphabet.
Recognize the symptoms
We know that many women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. What is less known, however, is that 20 to 25 percent of these women are younger than 50 years old. Many are also not familiar with the information that this percentage among young women and men has increased in recent years. It therefore becomes even more important to recognize the symptoms of breast cancer – and there are many more than just a lump in the breast.
The entire month of October is dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To better inform people about the symptoms, the Alexander Monro Hospital and the Breast Care Foundation joined forces to launch a better information campaign. It resulted in The Breast Cancer Alphabet.
The alphabet
The Alexander Monro Hospital specializes in breast cancer. Together with the Breast Care Foundation, the hospital wants to make people more aware of (the symptoms and information about) breast cancer among women and men. Alarmingly, research showed that 84 percent of women do not know what the twelve most common symptoms of breast cancer are – although there are many more symptoms in total that could indicate the disease. That is why the Alexander Monro Hospital, together with the Breast Care Foundation, developed the Breast Cancer Alphabet, where each letter represents a common symptom of breast cancer.
Paying attention is important
It is extremely important that we are better informed about the symptoms of breast cancer. Did you know that in the Netherlands, 2,500 of the 17,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer annually are between 18 and 35 years old? And did you know that breast cancer among this group of people is often only discovered much later? It all has to do with young people not realizing that something is wrong. This has a number of reasons. Firstly, the breast tissue of young people is more compact – making it more difficult to recognize abnormalities. Secondly, young women (and men) do not think about breast cancer when they notice something abnormal about their breast. A scary thought, especially when you know that breast cancer in young women is often much more aggressive than in older patients.
Source: Breast Care Foundation, Marie Claire | Image: Adobe Stock, Breast Care Foundation
