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According to a latest study, Australian pop singer and actress Kylie Minogue's breast cancer has triggered a 30 percent surge in breast imaging of low risk women. Screening tests increased by almost a third in women aged between 25 and 44, in the six months following her diagnosis in 2005. Study leader Margaret Kelaher of the University of Melbourne however remarked that the rates of operations to remove breast cancer did not change significantly.
The study has been published in the latest edition of the International Journal of Epidemiology and for the first time has relied on medicare data to examine the impact of exposure and hype that surrounded this announcement on breast imaging, biopsies and operations to remove tumors. Kelaher remarked that Kylie has been a great ambassador for breast cancer awareness. She stressed that the visibility of a celebrity’s illness provides an opportunity to address a huge health problem like breast cancer.
