Breast cancer mortality in relation to self-reported use of breast self-examination. A cohort study of 450,000 women

The benefits of breast self-examination (BSE) for reducingmortality from breast cancer are uncertain. We conductedan analysis of the relationship between self-reported practicingof BSE and mortality from breast cancer over13 years in a cohort of over 548,000women. The report of practicing BSE was unrelatedto breast cancer mortality. There was a smallbeneficial effect in those women who were thethinnest, but this effect was small and notstatistically significant. BSE was otherwise equally ineffective insubgroups defined by obesity level and family historyof breast cancer. We conclude that BSE, aspracticed by American women in 1959, did notreduce the risk of mortality from breast cancer.