OBJECTIVE: To determine breast cancer knowledge, screening behavior, perceived risk, and willingness to consume chemopreventive agent and their interrelationships in West Virginia Medicaid Program (WVMP) women enrollees.
METHODS: A survey of randomly selected women >40 years of age who were enrollees of WVMP was conducted. The questionnaire collected information on following components: utilization of breast cancer preventive strategies, perceived and actual (as calculated by Gail model) risk of breast cancer, breast cancer knowledge, and willingness to consume chemopreventive agents.
RESULTS: A total of 606 responses were obtained from a reachable sample size of 1502, yielding a response rate of 40.4%. Non–response bias assessment indicated minimal potential for non-response bias. Only 50.7% of respondents were compliant with the American Cancer Society screening guidelines. Almost none of the respondent (96.7%) had ever taken chemopreventive tamoxifen. A large proportion of respondents were not sure about their breast cancer risk, while 11.6% and 14.3% of respondents believed that they were at higher 5-year and lifetime risk of breast cancer as compared to an average woman, respectively. A low but significant correlation (0.167, p = 0.045) was found between respondents’ actual risk and perceived risk of breast cancer. A large proportion of women (42.6%) were not sure whether or not they would consume chemopreventive tamoxifen for breast cancer if advised by their doctor. Only 16.7% women expressed willingness to consume tamoxifen. No relationship was found between women’s perceived and actual risk of breast cancer and their mammography screening behavior or willingness to consume chemopreventive tamoxifen.
CONCLUSIONS: Actual and perceived risk of breast cancer does not seem to be associated with their screening behavior or willingness to consume chemopreventive tamoxifen in this population. Relatively few women in this population may opt to consume chemopreventive tamoxifen for reducing their risk of breast cancer.
