Survey: False positives don't dampen screening

A national survey found that women want the option of additional screening tests to find cancer early, even when such testing produces a false-positive result, according to Are You Dense, an organization that urges women to be informed about dense breast tissue and how it affects the early detection of breast cancer.

Nine out of 10 women who required a biopsy to follow up a false positive indicated they would still opt for additional screening the following year, according to the online survey, conducted in August 2011 by Research Now. Commissioned by Are You Dense, the survey included 1,000 women ages 40 to 64.

According to the survey, 55% of women said that they experience anxiety while waiting for the results of their yearly mammogram, but 80% of these women also said that they do not let anxiety deter them from their next scheduled mammogram.

The results show that women have regular screening mammograms for the benefit of the early detection of cancer and would choose additional screening measures to give them the best chance of early detection, according to Are You Dense. In fact, 93% of women who participated, if informed of their dense breast tissue, said they would choose to have an additional screening test.

The concern that anxiety over a false-positive result is a stressful and possibly emotionally debilitating experience for women has been frequently cited in objections to legislative efforts seeking to standardize the communication of breast density to women, Are You Dense said.

A California bill that would require physicians to report breast density findings to women is currently awaiting the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown.