A majority of Hong Kong Chinese women have an inadequate understanding of breast cancer and how it can be accurately detected, according to a survey conducted by Hong Kong Baptist University.

The study revealed that 379 out of the 496 women who responded had never gotten a mammography - a breast examination conducted with light X-rays. And among those 379 women, 159 (42 percent) had never heard of the method for detecting cancer, 60 percent did not know how it was done and 45 percent said it was too expensive.

The test costs more than HK$1,000, depending on the hospital.

Nearly 30 percent of the women who had not received the test said they feared it would be uncomfortable and embarrassing.

Yan Yuk-lee, the professor who conducted the survey, said it was crucial to provide people with information on the risks of breast cancer.

In particular, the education of young women should should be stepped up, she said.

The survey revealed that 158 out of all respondents had never conducted a breast examination using their own hands. Many said they didn't know how to conduct the self-test properly, and some worried about what they might discover.

The respondents were also unaware of the risk factors, despite more than 70 percent of them knowing women who had family history of breast cancer and prior history of benign tumor had a higher risk.

And fewer than 13 percent knew that the age of a woman's first menstrual period and the age she reaches menopause were correlated to breast cancer.

Only 10.3 percent knew that late pregnancies and being childless were risk factors. About 12 percent of them were aware that birth control methods could also play a role.

Only 11.3 percent of the women knew that breastfeeding babies reduces the risk of breast cancer.

There were 2,273 new breast cancer cases in Hong Kong in 2004, and 460 died from it in 2005, according to figures from the Hong Kong Cancer Registry and the Census and Statistics Department.

(HK Edition 01/12/2008 page1)