Many women are struggling to understand some of the information they are now getting about the risks of breast screening, researchers say today.
Women are now warned about the risk of overdiagnosis – but about a third of women do not understand what they are being told, researchers found.
The risk of overdiagnosis has been included in information leaflets since the end of last year following controversy about the risks and benefits about breast screening.
Experts say that for every life saved there may be three women who receive treatment they do not need, probably because a cancer is detected that would never pose a threat to their life.
Researchers at University College London questioned some 2,200 women about how useful they found the information.
Some 64% said they believed they fully understood what they were told about overdiagnosis.
Some 7% said they might be less likely to undertake breast screening as a while – but 4% said they were more likely to attend, according to the findings reported in the British Journal of Cancer.
Researcher Dr Jo Waller said: "While there is clearly room for improvement, the information leaflet does appear to help some women make a decision about whether or not to have breast screening.
“But the study found that many women still struggle to understand the balance of benefits and harms linked to breast screening, so we need to find better ways to communicate the risks as well as the benefits.”
Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, which backed the research, said: “We think it’s vitally important for women to have clear information about breast screening, the balance of benefits and harms and the fact that they could be diagnosed with and treated for a cancer that might not have caused them harm.
“The concept of overdiagnosis is still very new for a lot of women because it has only been included in the NHS leaflets for a year. We hope that over time, people’s understanding of this concept will increase as more and more women receive information explaining this risk of screening."
Waller, J et al. A survey study of women’s responses to information about overdiagnosis in breast cancer screening in Britain British Journal of Cancer 29 August 2014; doi: 10.1038/bjc.2014.482
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