世論 What Japan Thinks

At the end of last month, goo Research performed a survey amongst over 20,000 women to find out their attitudes towards breast cancer. This research was carried out on behalf of three organisations, Japan Society of Breast Care, Japan Cancer Society and J.POSH.

The survey details are: the respondents were selected from goo Reseach Monitor Group’s female members, with 21,106 women successfully completing the web-based questionnaire. 1.0% were 19 years old or under, 8.5% were 20-24, 19.5% were 25-29, 26.3% were 30-34, 19.4% were 35-39, 13.3% were 40-44, 6.4% were 45-49, 3.0% were 50-54, 1.8% were 55-59, and just 0.8% were 60 or over. 66.7% were married, and 52.7% had given birth.

Q1: Are you concerned about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106)

	Very concerned	Somewhat concerned	Neither concerned nor unconcerned	Not very concerned	Not at all concerned
All	30.0%	54.5%	11.5%	3.6%	0.4%
Up to 19 y.o.	16.5%	46.6%	22.8%	11.7%	2.4%
20-24 y.o.	23.0%	53.5%	15.2%	7.5%	0.8%
25-29 y.o.	28.6%	55.4%	11.7%	3.9%	0.3%
30-34 y.o.	30.6%	55.7%	10.8%	2.6%	0.3%
35-39 y.o.	31.1%	54.9%	10.4%	3.2%	0.4%
40-44 y.o.	32.0%	54.3%	10.5%	3.0%	0.2%
45-49 y.o.	31.6%	53.7%	12.7%	1.8%	0.5%
50-54 y.o.	33.3%	48.4%	12.7%	4.7%	0.8%
55-59 y.o.	37.2%	48.4%	9.4%	4.7%	0.3%
Over 60 y.o.	32.3%	49.4%	14.0%	4.3%	0.0%

Q2: Where do you get your information about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

Mother	12.9%
Other family or relatives	6.1%
Friends and acquaintances	23.4%
Newspapers	29.3%
Books or magazines	41.0%
TV or radio	53.0%
Internet	45.2%
Local government information leaflet	13.0%
Doctor	15.6%
Medical check-up service organisation	23.3%
Workplace or school health service	3.6%
I’ve never had information about breast cancer	9.7%
Other	0.7%

Q3: Do you know the following information about breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

It’s rapidly increasing within Japanese women	48.0%
Over one in thirty Japanese women will get it	18.5%
Once past your late thirties, the chance of breast cancer drastically increases	47.4%
It’s the leading cause of death from cancer in women from 30 to 64 years old	15.1%
If discovered early, the chance of recovery is 95%	51.5%
If you have regular imaging checks, there is a good chance of discovering cancer	45.6%
It’s a disease you can detect yourself	60.2%
Mammography will discover abnormalities much earlier than touching examinations	55.3%
Don’t know any of the above	6.8%

Q4: If you found a lump or other abnormality on your breast, what sort of clinic do you think you would go to? (Sample size=21,106)

Gynecology clinic	51.9%
Obstetrics and gynaecology clinic	9.6%
Internal medicine clinic	3.7%
Surgical clinic	8.7%
Breast specialist	25.8%
Others	0.4%

Q5: Do you know about specialised breast clinics? (Sample size=21,106)

I know about them	26.6%
I’ve heard about them, but don’t know the details	25.2%
Not heard of them at all	48.2%

Q6: How frequently do you have general health check-ups? (Sample size=21,106)

Every six months	3.5%
Once a year	48.3%
Once every two years	6.9%
Less than once every three years	10.5%
Not had one for over five years	13.1%
Not had one for over ten years	7.2%
Never had one	9.8%
Don’t want to answer	0.8%

Q7: What sort of breast examinations have you had? (Sample size=19,799, multiple answer)

Self-examination	25.6%
Visual and touch examination	34.5%
Mammography	15.6%
Ultrasound	17.6%
Never had one	55.3%
Don’t want to answer	0.7%

Q8: How frequently have you had a uterine cancer test? (Sample size=21,106)

Every six months	2.3%
Once a year	25.5%
Once every two years	9.1%
Less than once every three years	9.0%
Not had one for over five years	6.0%
Not had one for over ten years	2.2%
Never had one	44.7%
Don’t want to answer	1.2%

Q9: What was your motivation for having a breast cancer examination? (Sample size=8,706, multiple answer)

It was recommended that I should	10.2%
I saw information about it in the media (roadshow, magazine, TV, etc)	8.2%
It was part of a workplace check	25.5%
It was part of a local government check	34.2%
I felt myself it was necessary	35.5%
Because a friend or acquaintance has breast cancer	6.5%
Because a family member or relative has breast cancer	6.5%
I was motivated by a breast disease other than cancer	3.6%
Other	9.1%

Q10: Why did you not take a breast cancer examination? (Sample size=12,264, multiple answer)

I’d not had lumps or other symptoms recently	62.6%
At my age, breast cancer is not an issue	12.3%
No-one around me is taking them	12.8%
Takes too long to do it	20.4%
Scared that cancer might be found	7.8%
Not part of the workplace or local government health checks	12.0%
Not had an opportunity to take it	43.9%
I don’t know where to get an examination	15.1%
Nowhere locally to get an examination	5.2%
It’s a delicate matter	13.6%
I’m not concerned about breast cancer	3.6%
Other	5.0%

Q11: In the area you live in, does the local government carry out breast cancer screening? (Sample size=21,106)

Carries out	53.4%
Doesn’t carry out	2.9%
Don’t know	43.7%

Q12: If answered “Carries out” to Q11, in the area you live in, what sort of breast cancer screening examination does the local government perform? (Sample size=11,274, multiple answer)

Visual and touch examination	75.6%
Mammography	40.0%
Ultrasound	18.8%
Other	14.5%

Q13: Which of the following topics do you want to learn about regarding breast cancer? (Sample size=21,106, multiple answer)

About the disease	50.9%
About hospitals that do screening	59.0%
Infomation about breast specialists	54.4%
About local government measures	40.9%
About disease prevention methods	59.1%
About treatment methods	53.5%
About after-effects	34.9%
About medicines	30.2%
About fees for treatment etc	53.4%
About communities and information exchanges	13.4%
About latest information	31.8%
No information I want	2.4%
Others	0.8%

A bit of a biggie again tonight. I’m surprised that there is no direct question about how often people have had breast cancer checks (is this deliberate as they don’t want to highlight a largish figure?), although I note with a bit of surprise that over a quarter have yearly scanning downstairs, which seems to be higher than I would have expected, especially in light of an article by Rebecca K Green I read on Japan Today reporting that only 3% of women have mammograms, yet here 15.6% say they have had mammograms, and even more have had ultrasound checks, although of course the same people could be getting both examinations.

There’s also the other issues that yearly breast cancer checks are, according to UK calculations, not cost-effective (although it’s a difficult thing to cost), and that testicular and prostate cancer get almost zero coverage, even though they can be just as deadly.