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----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Engendering" Cancer is a Hazard ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Decades of public health campaigns about cancer in the United States have "engendered" the disease, causing women to worry more about cancer than other health risks, including heart disease, according to a University of Illinois professor of medical humanities. In her article in the American Journal of Public Health this month, Dr. Leslie J. Reagan says cancer messages historically targeted to women have led them to overestimate their breast cancer risk and to underestimate their risk of heart disease - which is still the major cause of death among older women. "The gendered nature of health education helps to explain why women in the United States today are more aware of breast cancer than heart disease as a threat to their lives," Reagan writes. The author says other observers suggest that women's overestimation of their cancer risk is due to misinterpretation of risk information, misunderstanding of probability, and the way information is given to women by doctors. Her conclusion was echoed this week when the National Council on Aging released the results of a survey which found that 61% of women between the ages of 45 and 64 cite cancer as the health problem they fear most. Only 9% said they feared a heart attack most. The "Myths and Misperceptions About Aging and Women's Health" survey, conducted last month, included more than 1,000 women nationwide. The results show that 20% of the women thought that heart disease is the leading cause of death in men, but not in women. In fact, heart disease is a greater health threat to women than breast cancer, according to Dr. Vincent T. Covello of the Center for Risk Communication. Writing in his report, "Women's Perceptions of the Risks of Age-Related Diseases..." Covello notes, "Between the ages of 45 to 64, for example, 1 in 8 women has evidence of heart disease. "By age 65, the heart disease numbers increase to 1 in 3 - compared to 1 in 17 for breast cancer. "But many women are unaware of their real risks of heart disease." "It is important that women understand these risks and take advantage of important therapies as appropriate, such as hormone replacement therapy, that can help prevent or treat many age-related diseases," adds Covello. In his report, Covello calls for training and information programs: for physicians - so they can "understand the traps and pitfalls involved in explaining complex health risk data to lay persons"; for consumers - to train them how "to ask the right questions of each other... of their doctors, and of the media"; and for journalists - to help them "understand the misleading effects of stories that emphasize drama and conflict over detection and treatment." SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health (1997;87(11):1779-1787) 1997, Reuters Health eLine] <http://www.medscape.com/reuters/fri/t112010f.html> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- janet [log in to unmask]