Preliminary results of the Nottingham breast self-examination education programme

Between June 1979 and December 1984, 49,573 women (study population) between the ages of 45 and 64 years and living in one health district were invited to attend breast self-examination sessions as part of the DHSS 'UK Trial of Early Detection of Breast Cancer'. Of the women invited 50.2 per cent attended for education. A total of 319 breast cancers were diagnosed in the study population during this period. The tumour characteristics, patient prognostic groups and survival have been compared with a control population consisting of the 319 consecutive breast cancers diagnosed immediately before the start of the DHSS trial, in women of the same age group and living in the same health district. There has been a significant reduction in the size at presentation of operable tumours (P less than 0.01) and there has been a small (3.4 per cent) reduction in lymph node involvement, but this is not significant. The rates of presentation of both in situ and advanced carcinoma have not significantly changed following the introduction of a breast self-examination education programme. At this stage no overall survival difference has been identified between the two groups but the median follow up of the study population is limited (25 months).