Peachy the Magazine October November 2014 | Page 112

Breast Cancer Awareness…

P R E V E N T I O N

U

Unless you’ve had your head in the
sand you know that October is Breast
Cancer Awareness Month. It is hard
to avoid articles that highlight breast
cancer and the inordinate number of
women who suffer with the diagnosis
of this feared disease. Many believe
that this “awareness” has only added
fear without making any measurable
difference in the disease. In Preventative

110

PEACHYTHEMAGAZINE.COM

WRITTEN BY

Nancy Palermo Lietz, MD

Medicine magazine, 80 percent of
women state they are moderately or
very afraid of a breast cancer diagnosis
and rate this as one of their greatest
fears. The reality is that 90 percent of
women will never get this diagnosis.
Breast Cancer Awareness month was
established in 1985 by AstraZeneca, the
pharmaceutical company responsible
for the development of Tamoxifen and
Arimidex, common c hemotherapy
agents used in the treatment of breast
cancer. In the first decade, awareness
efforts increased breast screening
through mammograms from 26 to over
70 percent. The increased screening
did appear to increase the diagnosis of
breast cancer through sheer numbers.