Evaluating a campaign to detect early stage breast tumors in the United States

Abstract

Growing concern over failure to detect early stage breast cancer has led communities across the United States to participate in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month program. This program mobilizes local public and private institutions, particularly the media, to reach a large audience each October with information on salutary behaviors, including screening, and on resources that can assist newly motivated audiences to adopt the behaviors. Although the scholarly literature includes no assessments of the effect of the program on the actual detection of early stage breast tumors, similar programs targeting other illnesses (e.g., AIDS) are quickly emerging. We attempt such an assessment by applying time-series designs to 92 quarters (beginning January, 1975) of data obtained from cancer registries in the Atlanta and Detroit metropolitan areas as well as in the San Francisco Bay Area. We find that the detection of in situ and local breast tumors increased in all three communities during the quarters that included Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We conclude that community mobilization may have its intended benefit but suggest that community organizers not ignore unintended costs including the emotional and physical sequelae of false positives.

The effect of breast cancer awareness month on internet search activity - a comparison with awareness campaigns for lung and prostate cancer

“…BCAM has been attempting to address this problem in breast cancer since 1985, and has been demonstrated to result in an increased uptake of screening mammography[14], and an increased rate of detection of in situ - and local breast tumours[1]. The results presented here suggest that the BCAM campaigns have been highly successful in stimulating Internet activity relating to breast cancer, at least for the duration of the annual campaign, and for the months immediately either side of it.…”

“…The campaign, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in the United States in October 2009, is characterised by an effort to underscore the importance of self-examination and screening, whilst promoting existing resources which can assist those motivated by the campaign to adopt these behaviours[1]. While there are dissenting voices regarding the amount of attention which breast cancer receives as a result of these, and other breast awareness initiatives[2,3], it is accepted that these campaigns have improved care for patients by enabling better prevention, screening, knowledge and understanding of treatment options, research funding, and political will[3].…”

Health awareness campaigns and diagnosis rates: Evidence from National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

“…In addition to this paper, one other paper has examined the relationship between breast cancer awareness campaigns and diagnoses. Catalano et al (2003) examine the relationship between early breast cancer awareness efforts and diagnoses. Using quarterly diagnosis data from 1975 to 1997 in three metropolitan areas that sponsored awareness month activities during the early years of locally sponsored breast cancer awareness months, they find that breast cancer diagnosis rates increased in each of these cities in the last quarter of the calendar year after the first community-based 1 Screening has also been analyzed in theoretical models.…”

“…The first breast cancer awareness month events were held in several communities across the country in October 1985 (Catalano et al, 2003). "Celebrity" diagnoses continued to be an important impetus for seeking screening.…”

Crowdsourcing Awareness: Exploration of the Ovarian Cancer Knowledge Gap through Amazon Mechanical Turk

“…New and better combinations of treatments and screening tools for breast cancer have extended and improved the lives of survivors [6], [7]. Visibility and spread of knowledge has been spearheaded by international awareness campaigns [8]–[10]. Social campaigns in particular, such as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) have been highly successful in increasing routine screening within two years to approximately 70% of the general female population and contributed to substantial reductions in breast cancer mortality [8], [11]–[13].…”