부산대학교 도서관

Both the number of breast cancer cases and the number of deaths from breast cancer are increasing in Japan. It was estimated in 2013, that one in 11 Japanese women suffers from breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2018, breast cancer was reported as the most common cancer among Japanese women, and the number of patients was estimated to be 86,500. After the guidelines for cancer prevention focused on health education and cancer screening were partially revised, inspection/palpation for breast cancer screening was virtually abolished. We conducted an internet survey to determine the implementation system of breast cancer screening after the guideline revision and prior research in Gunma prefecture. The survey period was from February 2, 2018 to March 31, 2018. Of the 35 municipalities of Gunma prefecture surveyed, 21 municipalities (60.0%) disclosed information about their mass screening program for breast cancer and 12 (34.3%) disclosed information about individual screening. Information on medical checkup sent on the Internet was not the most common method, and notification of individuals through paper media, such as medical checkup information by post and public relations magazines, was more frequently used. In Gunma prefecture, 27.6% of all the cities, towns and villages carries out mammography alone for mass screening and 35.3% carried it out for individual screening. It is reported that women’s disgust at breast palpation and being inhibited by male doctors’ involvement in screening were among the screening inhibiting factors. We suggest that as the main method of examination has shifted from palpation to mammography alone, the screening rate could improve. In addition, a negative correlation was found in the rate of mass screening and the amount of copay in each municipality in Gunma Prefecture, and it was inferred that the amount of co-pay influenced the examination behavior.