Preventative Health and Risk Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls With and Without Family Histories of Breast Cancer

Abstract

To compare health behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, fruit and vegetable intake, exercise frequency) and breast self-exam (BSE) between girls with breast cancer family history (BCFH+) and without (BCFH-) and assess associates of behaviors across all girls.Methods: 208 BCFH+ girls (11-19 yo), with first-or-second degree relatives with breast cancer or a mother with a BRCA1/2 mutation, and 112 BCFH-peers reported their health behaviors, beliefs and psychosocial function.Results: Despite higher BCFH+ girls' greater perceived breast cancer risk, there were no differences between BCFH+ and BCFH-girls on diet, exercise, alcohol initiation, or BSE. BCFH+ girls were slightly more likely to report trying cigarettes (11% vs 5%, p=0.04). In multivariable models with all girls, categorical associations with behaviors included: developmental and demographic factors with smoking, alcohol, diet, and exercise; family breast cancer history and experience with smoking, alcohol, and diet; psychosocial factors with smoking; girls perceptions of cancer controllability and mother support for health behaviors with alcohol, diet, exercise, and BSE; and mother behaviors with diet.Conclusions: Adolescent girls from BCFH+ families reported similar health behaviors to BCFH-peers, signaling that they are not translating their higher perceived risk into cancer control behaviors. Both uncontrollable (i.e., breast cancer experiences) and modifiable factors relate to health behaviors and warrant further investigation. Results indicate that interventions with teens and parents that target modifiable variables such as controllability perceptions, maternal modeling, and communication may relate to better health behaviors and reduced future breast cancer risk.

Analiza samopregledovanja dojk glede na oblikovan življenjski slog žensk

“…Anketiranke, stare 20-29 let, značilno vsak dan uživajo zajtrk (p = 0,009). Večino rakavih obolenj je do neke mere mogoče preprečiti z oblikovanim zdravim življenjskim slogom in s pomočjo preventivnega presejanja (Schwartz idr., 2018). Vsaka ženska ima torej nekaj vpliva na rak dojk, pod pogojem, da ima za to potrebno znanje glede zdravega načina življenja, samopregledovanja dojk in presejalnih testov (Nowicki idr., 2017).…”

“…Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous. Data was statistically processed using IBM SPSS v. 26 The majority of respondents are non-smokers (76.6%), drink alcohol (79.0%), eat breakfast (77.6%) and eat fruit and vegetables daily (83.2%). Breakfast is regularly eaten by 71.7% of respondents aged 20-29 (χ 2 = 9.480; p = 0.009).…”

Information needs on breast cancer genetic and non-genetic risk factors in relatives of women with a BRCA1/2 or PALB2 pathogenic variant

“…For example, in a French survey, only 6% and 3% spontaneously evoked alcohol consumption or physical inactivity respectively, when asked about BC risk factors [ 27 ]. Moreover, it seems that belonging to a high-risk, multiple case family, or being a carrier of a BRCA1/2 altered gene does not lead to adopting a healthier lifestyle compared to the general population [ 7 , 28 , 29 ]. According to the Health Belief Model, adopting a specific behavior is related to the belief that it may be effective in reducing the health risk [ 30 ], so women at high BC risk may not be aware of the role of health behaviors on BC risk.…”

“…Thus, we enquired about information needs after the initial genetic counseling regarding overall BC risk factors. We hypothesize greater unmet needs regarding NGRF [ [27] , [28] , [29] ] than GRF.…”

“…Moreover, as information needs may be related to counselees’ characteristics such as their age [ 17 ], level of education [ [33] , [34] , [35] ], parental status [ 17 ], exposure to familial experience with BC [ 28 ], cancer risk perceptions [ 36 ], distress [ 19 ] and coping modalities [ 37 , 38 ], these aspects were further explored to identify subgroups of counselees particularly in need for enhanced communication and additional information on BC GRF and NGRF.…”