A new European survey sponsored by AstraZeneca (AZ) and Daiichi Sankyo has revealed widespread misconceptions about breast cancer and metastatic cases of the disease.
The online questionnaire gathered insights from 7,750 adults across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and found a lack of knowledge surrounding breast cancer severity, age of diagnosis and biomarker status.
A desire for more information about the disease was expressed by 88% of respondents, with the top three areas of interest being information on new treatments, life expectancy and quality of life.
Awareness of metastatic breast cancer, when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, varied across the five countries, with 93% of Spanish respondents saying they had some understanding or certainty about the disease, compared to 59% in the UK.
Additionally, half of respondents mistakenly believed that age does not impact the risk of developing metastatic breast cancer, and three quarters said they were unfamiliar with the concept of a biomarker, substances or characteristics in the body that can be measured to help diagnosis.
Approximately 558,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in Europe every year and, despite established screening programmes, it is estimated that 30% of patients diagnosed with early stages of breast cancer will develop metastatic disease.
It is hoped that the survey results will raise awareness of the need for improved access to accurate and easy to understand healthcare information on breast cancer and metastatic disease.
Greg Rossi, senior vice president oncology, Europe and Canada, AZ, said: “These insights, coupled with the compelling statistics regarding the ongoing prevalence and impact of breast cancer reinforce that global leaders, policy experts, clinicians and patient advocates must continue to work together to prioritise breast cancer, especially metastatic disease.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, Markus Kosch, head of Europe and Canada oncology business division, Daiichi Sankyo, said: “Greater public understanding of breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer is needed to empower the European population to seek the support they need at the earliest opportunity when they need it… This is not just true for breast cancer, but for all cancers.”