Rate of breast cancer screening is very low in India, only 1% of women above 45 years of age are being screened

If cancer is screened and treated on time, then the chances of survival for the patients are very great, but it's been asserted by a study that in India only one among every 100 women who are age 45 and above undergoes screening for breast cancer on time.

Researchers who carried out this research were researchers at the Tata Memorial Center in Mumbai and Varanasi as well. This research has been published in the journal Biomed Central (BMC) Public Health.

Researchers added that the use of mammography in India is low when compared with the world. In African countries, the use of mammography is at a level of 4.5%, Asian countries such as Korea and Japan use it at the level of 40-60%, and European and American countries use it at 84%. A mammogram is a test using an X-ray, used for the examination of the breast.

It helps in detecting breast cancer and other breast diseases. There is a lot of disparity in the rate of mammography among the states in the country. While Kerala has the highest mammography rate of 4.5%, it was recorded at 0% in Nagaland. The mammography rate in Andhra Pradesh is 0.1%, and in Uttarakhand, it is 0.27%. The mammography rate in Karnataka is 2.9%.

For the study, the team analyzed the data of more than 35,000 women. The survey was conducted in 2017-18. The analysis showed that the rate of mammography uptake was 1.3% among Indian women aged 45 years and above, 1.7% among those aged 45-59 years, and 0.9% among women aged 60 years and above.