• Question: why are women not taking their medication for breast cancer?

    Asked by anon-180169 to Viren, Amy, Abby on 11 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Viren Swami

      Viren Swami answered on 11 Jun 2018:

      There are different types of treatment for breast cancer and many medicines that can be used as part of that treatment. Actually, most women *do* take their medication when they’re going treatment for breast cancer, but some may not for a number of different reasons, such as not feeling hopeful that the treatment will be successful.

      A much bigger problem is the difficulty in encouraging women to seek professional help when they detect a change in their breasts. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the UK and British women have poorer survival rates than women in other parts of Europe. One reason for this is because British women delay seeking help when they detect a change in their breasts.

      My research has shown that one reason why women may delay seeking help is because they suffer from “breast dissatisfaction”, which is a type of negative body image. Promoting more positive body image and better “breast awareness” may help improve help seeking in British women.

    • Photo: Abby Hunter

      Abby Hunter answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      This is not really my research area but I think there are some drugs that women at risk of breast cancer can take to reduce the chance of them getting breast cancer, but many women choose not to take the drug because they are worried about the side effects. Perhaps they feel it will never happen to them so they would rather take the risk than suffer the side effects.

      I imagine among women who do have breast cancer that a higher number of them do take the recommended treatment.

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