2024-10-22 13:30:00
Coincidentally, the Social Security financing bill arrives in Parliament in this month of Pink October, dedicated to breast cancer awareness and prevention.
Breast cancer remains a major public health challenge, affecting more than 61,000 women each year in France. Although early detection is crucial to increase the chances of recovery, glaring inequalities persist, hindering equitable access to this vital service. Indeed, the screening rate in France is only 47%, compared to 54% on average in Europe.
As committed women and professionals invested in the fight against cancer, we, the signatories of this forum, call for an urgent review of screening policies to better meet the needs of all women, regardless of age or place of birth. residence or disability situation.
Five thousand women under 40
Organized breast cancer screening currently targets women aged 50 to 74. However, this age threshold must be reviewed. The incidence of breast cancer continues to increase for women before the age of 50 and after the age of 75, who are not affected by organized screening. Every year in France, five thousand women under the age of 40 develop breast cancer; However, women under 50 must have access to annual gynecological follow-up so that the specialist can properly assess the benefit of imaging.
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Advances in oncogeriatrics and the physiological changes in elderly women justify a precise assessment of the benefit/risk balance after age 75: some women aged 75 or over have a physiological age of ten years younger and a life expectancy of more than twenty years, others on the contrary are fragile, with multiple comorbidities or losing autonomy. At the time of the creation of the new ten-year strategy to combat cancer, limiting screening based solely on chronological age is outdated.
Nearly 20% of new cases of breast cancer affect women over the age of 75, who actually represent a quarter of new cancer cases and half of deaths. Often diagnosed late, these women find their care complicated. In addition, the elderly do not benefit from research efforts like other categories of the population, which makes their care uncertain and not based on scientific evidence.
Read also | Breast cancer: less than one in two women participate in screening organized in France
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Today, less than 7% of patients over 75 with cancer are included in clinical trials, even though they represent more than 30% of new cases. An annual assessment of the joint risk of breast cancer and frailty, associated multimorbidity, could be requested from doctors or advanced practice nurses (APNs) responsible for renewing prescriptions for older people, thus offering an equal chance of benefiting from early diagnosis.
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